Berri to 'provide cover' for cabinet session called for by Mikati

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri will provide cover for any call for a cabinet session that caretaker PM Najib Mikati may make, informed sources said.

“Necessities permit the forbidden and if preserving (sectarian) balances is necessary, protecting people’s health is a duty,” the sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Wednesday.

Media reports have said that Mikati intends to call for a cabinet session to approve a decree for dispensing overdue payments to hospitals.

Mikati might call for the session next week, MTV reported on Tuesday.

Following talks with Mikati that tackled the issue of hospitals, caretaker Health Minister Firass Abiad had said that “there is a problem regarding the increase that occurred to the Health Ministry’s hospitalization budget, seeing as it is necessary to issue a decree… to be able to implement the increases on fees.”

“Due to the absence of cabinet sessions, this decree was not issued, and accordingly the Finance Ministry informed us that it is not possible to pay these overdue fees, which threatens the continuity of hospitalization services,” Abiad added.

The cabinet has not convened since the expiry of Michel Aoun’s presidential term on October 31.

The Free Patriotic Movement has meanwhile warned against convening the caretaker cabinet amid a presidential vacuum.