| Verified against primary record | |
| Hospital beds | About 13,000 total capacity, but only 2,000 available in the 27 operational public hospitals[1] |
|---|---|
| Private hospital beds closed | More than 30 per cent[1] |
| Doctors emigrated | About 40 per cent, permanently or partially, as estimated by the professional orders[1] |
| Nursing workforce lost | About 20 per cent[1] |
| Third-party reimbursements to hospitals | Fell by 90 per cent during the crisis[1] |
| Hospital sector size | USD 800 million to 1 billion a year, serving about 12 per cent of the population, with around 800,000 admissions a year[1] |
| Health spending | 7.8 per cent of GDP, USD 4.14 billion, USD 936 per person, on 2016 to 2017 data[1] |
| Out-of-pocket share | 33.0 per cent of total health expenditure[1] |
| Refugee share of population | About 30 per cent; the largest number of refugees per capita in the world[1] |
| Medical tourism in the WHO country strategies | Not mentioned in either the 2022 to 2023 or the 2026 to 2029 strategy[1][2] |
| Independently reported | |
| Regional pattern | Visa restrictions were said to have pushed many Middle Eastern patients toward Southeast Asia[3] |
| Bands apply only to the rows beneath them. The spending figures rest on 2016 to 2017 data and the source document states that they need revision because of the financial crisis, so they describe the system before the collapse the same document reports. The workforce emigration figures are estimates by the professional orders, not a census. No count of foreign patients treated in Lebanon, no revenue figure and no outbound patient figure was located, and none has been estimated. No typical cost range is given for the same reason. | |
Medical tourism in Lebanon cannot be assessed from the official record, which does not mention it, but that record documents something more consequential for anyone considering treatment there: a hospital system that lost more than 30 per cent of its private beds, about 40 per cent of its doctors and about 20 per cent of its nurses, and in which only 2,000 beds remain available across 27 operational public hospitals.
A private system, then a collapse
The WHO country cooperation strategy for Lebanon, in its updated version covering 1 June 2022 to 30 December 2023, describes a health sector dominated by private for-profit providers. It puts the hospital sector at 800 million to 1 billion United States dollars a year, serving about 12 per cent of the population with around 800,000 admissions a year, and records that the private sector absorbed demand from the refugee influx before 2019.[1]
The same document then records what the financial crisis did to it. Total hospital capacity is about 13,000 beds, but only 2,000 are available in the 27 operational public hospitals, and more than 30 per cent of private hospital beds are closed. Third-party reimbursements to hospitals fell by 90 per cent, which the strategy describes as threatening their viability. Hundreds of private pharmacies have closed.[1]
A 90 per cent fall in third-party reimbursement is the figure that matters most for understanding Lebanese healthcare now. It means the institutions that formerly carried the cost of treatment largely stopped paying, which transfers that cost to patients directly in a country where out-of-pocket payment already accounted for a third of health spending before the crisis.
The workforce
The professional orders estimate that about 40 per cent of medical doctors have emigrated permanently or partially, and that about 20 per cent of the nursing workforce has left the country. These are estimates by the professional bodies rather than a census, and the strategy reports them as such.[1]
Lebanon was for decades a regional reference point for medical training and specialist care, which is why the loss of a share of doctors on that scale matters beyond the bed count. Reputation in medical travel rests on individual clinicians and the institutions that retain them, and the record here documents the departure of both without quantifying what remains by specialty.
Financing before the crisis
On 2016 to 2017 data, health expenditure was 6,238 billion Lebanese pounds or 4.14 billion United States dollars, 7.8 per cent of gross domestic product, and 936 dollars per person. Government and compulsory schemes provided 47.6 per cent of financing and private voluntary schemes and household payments 52.4 per cent. Out-of-pocket payments were 33.0 per cent of total health expenditure and social health insurance 23.4 per cent. Spending went 52.5 per cent on curative and rehabilitative care, 27.2 per cent on medical goods, 8.7 per cent on administration, 4.6 per cent on ancillary services and 7.1 per cent on other services including preventive care.[1]
The document explicitly states that these figures need revision because of the financial crisis. They are reproduced here with that warning attached, because they are the most recent national health accounts the strategy offers and because the gap between them and the conditions the same document describes is itself the point.[1]
Refugees, not patients from abroad
Lebanon hosts the largest number of refugees per capita in the world, with about 30 per cent of the population being refugees. The strategy records about 1,365,000 Syrian refugees, around 850,000 of them registered with UNHCR, and about 248,000 Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA, all depending on humanitarian support for health care. About 20 per cent of Syrian refugees reported medication access barriers in the last quarter of 2021, and wasting and stunting prevalence in Syrian camps was 25.8 per cent.[1]
This is the cross-border health movement that defines Lebanon, and it is the opposite of medical tourism in every respect that matters: involuntary, uninsured, and a claim on capacity rather than a source of revenue. Conflating the two would misdescribe the country entirely, and the official record keeps them separate by discussing only the former.
The successor strategy covering 2026 to 2029, published on 30 September 2025, aligns with WHO’s Fourteenth General Programme of Work and Lebanon’s National Health Sector Strategy Vision 2030 and uses a humanitarian development-peace nexus approach connecting emergency response with long-term reform and recovery. Its publication entry likewise makes no mention of medical tourism, health tourism or foreign patients.[2]
Limits of the evidence
No Lebanese count of foreign patients, no medical tourism revenue figure and no outbound patient figure was located. The financing data is pre-crisis and flagged as such by its own publisher. The workforce losses are professional-body estimates. For the 2026 to 2029 strategy only the publication entry was read, not the 68-page document, so statements here about its contents are limited to what that entry sets out. No specialty-level account of remaining capacity was found.
See also
- Medical tourism and health workforce migration, the loss this record documents
- Refugee access to cross-border healthcare, the movement that actually defines Lebanon
- Medical tourism and health system capacity, where a third of private beds are closed
- Medical tourism in Jordan, the regional destination whose figures come from its trade body
- Medical travel and treatment affordability, after a 90 per cent fall in reimbursement
References
- WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean. Country Cooperation Strategy for WHO and Lebanon: updated version, 1 June 2022 to 30 December 2023. Cairo, 2022, ISBN 978-92-9274-009-2 (online). Verified against primary record: the document was opened and health expenditure of 6,238 billion Lebanese pounds or USD 4.14 billion on 2016 to 2017 data, per capita spending of USD 936, the share of 7.8 per cent of GDP, the financing split of 47.6 per cent government and compulsory schemes against 52.4 per cent private voluntary schemes and household payments, the out-of-pocket share of 33.0 per cent, the social health insurance share of 23.4 per cent, the spending breakdown by category, the explicit caveat that these figures need revision because of the financial crisis, total capacity of about 13,000 beds with only 2,000 available in 27 operational public hospitals, the closure of more than 30 per cent of private hospital beds, the professional orders’ estimate that about 40 per cent of doctors have emigrated permanently or partially and about 20 per cent of the nursing workforce has left, the hospital sector at USD 800 million to 1 billion a year serving about 12 per cent of the population with around 800,000 admissions a year, the 90 per cent fall in third-party reimbursements, the closure of hundreds of private pharmacies, the roughly 1,000 primary health care centres and dispensaries mostly owned by non-governmental organisations, the refugee share of about 30 per cent of the population and the figures for Syrian and Palestinian refugees, the 20 per cent of Syrian refugees reporting medication access barriers in the last quarter of 2021, the 25.8 per cent wasting and stunting prevalence in Syrian camps, the four strategic priorities, and the complete absence of any reference to medical tourism, foreign or international patients or citizens travelling abroad for treatment were read directly. Retrieved 23 October 2026.
- WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean. Country cooperation strategy for WHO and Lebanon, 2026-2029. Published 30 September 2025, 68 pages, ISBN 978-92-9-274666-7. Verified against primary record: the publication entry was opened and the period covered, the publisher, the publication date, the page count, the alignment with WHO’s Fourteenth General Programme of Work, the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework, WHO Eastern Mediterranean flagship initiatives and Lebanon’s National Health Sector Strategy Vision 2030, the humanitarian development-peace nexus approach connecting emergency response with long-term health reform and recovery, and the absence of any reference to medical tourism, health tourism or foreign patients were read directly. Only the publication entry was read; the full document was not retrieved. Retrieved 23 October 2026.
- Chambers, A. Trends in U.S. Health Travel Services Trade. Office of Industries, United States International Trade Commission, Executive Briefing on Trade, August 2015. Independently reported: the briefing was opened and the statement that visa restrictions had pushed many Middle Eastern patients towards Southeast Asia was read. The briefing states that the views expressed are the author’s and not those of the Commission, and it is placed in this band for that reason. Retrieved 23 October 2026.
Sourcing note: the financing figures here are pre-crisis and their own publisher says they need revision, which is stated wherever they appear rather than left for a reader to discover. Workforce losses are professional-body estimates and are labelled as estimates. Refugee health is kept separate from medical tourism throughout, because treating the two as one would misdescribe the country. Nothing has been estimated and no commercial source has been used.