TY - JOUR T1 - Stitching a torn system JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 222 LP - 223 DO - 10.3399/bjgp10X483715 VL - 60 IS - 572 AU - Bassem Saab AU - Jumana Antoun Y1 - 2010/03/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/60/572/222.1.abstract N2 - Deciding to cut budgets is a difficult choice to make and may raise ethical issues. When faced with such a fact of life one needs to prioritise allocation of resources in a just way.Cuts in budgets are inevitable in a world where the population increases and productivity does not match demands, and/or we mismanage available resources. In Lebanon these three factors have a bearing on the health of the majority of the Lebanese people. In a meeting between the Lebanese Ministers of Health and Finance on 31 December 2009, the former did not get the budget he asked for (do not misunderstand me; he did not … ER -