Vital treatments running out across Libya, union warns

Libya is facing a worsening shortage of vital medicines, leaving hundreds of thousands of patients struggling to get the treatment they need, the Libyan Patients’ Union has warned.

Union president Mahmoud Abudabbous said the crisis is hitting those with chronic illnesses the hardest. Around 1.1 million diabetes patients are finding it increasingly difficult to get their medication, with shipments into the country “almost completely stopped” apart from a few occasional arrivals. “This will inevitably destabilise patients’ health,” he said.

Cancer patients – about 23,000 across the country – are also affected, with many essential cancer drugs “practically unavailable” for long periods. Patients with muscular dystrophy, numbering around 1,500, are facing a similar struggle, having received neither treatment abroad nor access to the necessary medicines at home.

For kidney patients, the National Authority for Kidney Patients is working to secure enough dialysis supplies to last the next year, but this depends on the release of €65 million in approved funding.

Abudabbous urged immediate action from the authorities, warning that the medicine shortage is fast becoming a national health emergency and could cost lives if left unresolved.