BEIRUT — Barely two hours after Lydia landed from Marseille in France, friends and relatives flocked to her apartment to collect drugs that have vanished from Lebanese pharmacies because of crippling shortages.
They started knocking on her door as early as 7:30 am — before she even had a chance to unpack two suitcases and a backpack stuffed with medicine she had purchased from France for more than $1,000.
“I didn’t even have a chance to sleep, but I understand because there’s nothing worse than running out of medicine,” especially if you have a chronic illness, the woman in her sixties said from her home in Baabdat, north of Beirut.
Lydia, like many oth…
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