Much of the Arab world is short of doctors

FOR THOSE with money, Lebanon’s health-care system was once the envy of the Middle East. Private clinics and hospitals were staffed by doctors trained at top places in the West. Wealthy patients from across the Arab world jetted in for treatment. Today, though, it is the doctors getting on planes. One surgeon says his salary, paid in local currency, is worth about $200 a month—less than a dollar an hour. Another says his hospital was wrecked in the explosion on August 4th at Beirut’s port. Both are applying for jobs abroad, joining a long exodus of Arab doctors.The Middle East, like much of the northern hemisphere, is hunkering down as covid-19 cases climb. In Lebanon, where more than 80% of intensive-care beds are occupied, the government ordered most businesses to shut on November 14th. Tunisia has imposed a curfew and halted travel between regions. Other countries are considering similar measures. But the closures offer scant relief for doctors forced to fight the virus short-handed.