Sahar, 28 years old, is from Halab, Syria and she moved with her family to Saida, Lebanon in 2013.
Sahar lives with her husband and 3 children in a small room with no windows and is struggling to provide for her family. “Living conditions are very hard… Sometimes I can’t even feed my kids.” Her husband is not always able to find work and they do not receive any financial support. Sometimes they cannot even afford to pay for school transportation and the kids have to get there on foot even in harsh weather conditions. “I can’t always pay for transportation, so I have to send my kids to school walking even under the rain,” she says.
Sahar and her family can however rely on the health services provided by the primary healthcare center in Saida, where they pay a moderate fee in exchange for a medical consultation and medications.
I come to this hospital because it’s the cheapest […] and the best one. I wouldn’t have been able to get medical treatment for my kids as my husband works on rare occasions and we can barely afford bread.
Hiam, 70, is Lebanese and she has suffered from diabetes for over 20 years. Like Sahar, her financial situation is dire and she had to borrow money whenever her or her family members needed medical treatment. She also goes to the primary healthcare center to get her medicines. “I can’t afford the medicine, so I come and buy it from here.”
