ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS

12/31/2012

ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS

When people exclaim that we should finally wake up in Lebanon and do something, what do they exactly mean by that exclamation?

Yes, I fully agree that we should wake up, but wake up to do WHAT exactly?

For twenty years most of us have been complaining a lot but doing nothing. Is it not time to stop for a moment and think about what we should do? If these citizens who claim that we should finally wake up are prepared to devote half an hour a day to do something constructive, I am sure that a lot can be achieved in a comparatively short time. 

 We have hundred of problems (machakels) in Lebanon. What we should do is think hard about each one of these problems and try to find a solution, or several solutions for it. If every citizen devoted half an hour a day to THINK about one problem for a period of two months, he or she can certainly find some kind of a solution for it. We have five months left until election time. That means that each person can solve two and a half problems during that time.

To better illustrate the above I have selected the subject of Health. Health  is one of the eighteen sectors that form part of the proposed Lebanese National Development Plan (LNDP). 

In connection with that sector I have rapidlt identified sixteen different health issues in Lebanon that, provided they are earnestly attended to and solved, can greatly benefit the population of this country. In fact the matter is so urgent that I can safely say that in Lebanon people are dying because these issues are not properly taken care of.

I list these issues below:

1. The Health Plan

1-1 Bottled water distribution (only 25 registered companies out of 625)

1-2 The sanitary conditions at the Beirut Slaughter house (local meat)

1-3 The illegal importation of contaminated or diseased cattle (Beirut customs)

1-4 The importation of expired foodstuff

1-5 The illegal importation of medicines

1-6 The disposal of dangerous medical waste from hospitals

1-7 The possible harmful radiation effects from the high tension lines (

1-8 The solution to the problem of the waste mountain at Saida

1-9 The problem of dirty drinking water and the creation of water treatment plants

1-10 The home waste sorting system and the role of the municipalities

1-11 The complaints of the members of the Hospital owners association that the Ministry of Finance is late in paying them for the social security amounts

1-12 The complaints of hospital staff that they are underpaid

1-13 The closure threat of the Rafik Hariri hospital

1-14 The problems of CO2 from car exhausts and diesel car engines

1-15 The noise pollution from the quarries

1-16 The lack of regulation of private generators and their harmful effects on the population.