Hezballah as a solution to Lebanon's public health crisis

Lebanon's public health system is weak and underfunded. The Minister of Public health of the nation mainly allocates the ministry's budget to help support private hospitals rather than to the development of primary health care centers (PHC). This has caused a niche of the population to be neglected from access to health care. Meanwhile, Hezballah, an official Shi'a political party in Lebanon, has been consistently providing Shi'a Muslims with access to care through primary healthcare centers, efficient facilities, and immediate responses to emergency health crises. Now that Hezballah's political coalition has effective control over the Cabinet in the country, in addition to the fact that the Minister of Public Health, Hassan Khalil, is part of that coalition, an evident ethical dilemma presents itself: should Hezballah, as an official national political party, be providing such healthcare facilities to all Lebanese, regardless of their religious and political affiliation? With this main ethical issue in mind, the project to be discussed seeks to adapt Hezballah's healthcare system under the umbrella of the government's Ministry of Public Health. Using their efficient data collecting services, solid infrastructure for primary healthcare, and trained personnel, Lebanon can see an improvement in PHC facilities on a nationwide basis. Thus, standardizing the public health care system of Lebanon can work to provide the entire population with good primary health care and can serve as a nation-building mechanism to diffuse the sectarian divides that plague the country.