2023-09-01 07:05:00
It seems that a drug crisis is imminent, this is what a pharmacist says when someone asks her regarding a drug. Indeed, not all medicines are available in pharmacies, and this is the testimony of many, which prompts the question once more: Will the medicine queue return to the scene once more?
The head of the Syndicate of Drug Importers, Joseph Gharib, told An-Nahar, “The problem lies with subsidized medicines, and the matter goes back to the period in which the governance of the Banque du Liban changed, so that the Banque du Liban stopped paying the dues of drug manufacturers abroad,” which caused concern and insecurity among These companies, as “so far, their money owed to the Banque du Liban, which is regarding $ 174 million, are still not paid, and it is not known how future drug shipments will be handled.”
In this context, the Minister of Health put this file on the agenda of the cabinet session next week to allocate an amount to the Ministry of Health with the aim of covering subsidized medicines monthly for a period of three months, and “our union is awaiting the decision of the session in terms of an amount and a period of time, and the minister is in the process of requesting an amount of 35 million dollars.” From the special drawing rights of Lebanon, but in our opinion, this decision, even if approved by the Council of Ministers, does not solve the problem in the foreseeable future, but secures temporary shipments for a month or two ahead.
However, what Gharib calls for is “changing the method and form of support, as support in its current form cannot last, and officials must take appropriate decisions to transfer support from commodity support to patient support, and thus the market does not witness a disruption of these medicines, and whoever is able to receive hospital coverage is not.” You need a subsidized health card and no subsidized medicine.”
Gharib asserts that “as long as the import of subsidized medicines is linked to an unsustainable mechanism and hostage to the decision of the Council of Ministers every short period of time, of course the most affected patients, who are cancer patients, will remain in the wind, especially since the Banque du Liban refrains from continuing the support mechanism.”
While the Ministry of Health used to secure the bulk of medicines for cancer and rare diseases, this step was taking place on a monthly basis without the existence of a strategic stock, meaning that each shipment of medicines depends on the availability of funds, and now manufacturers abroad prefer to deal with other countries to export their medicines, according to Gharib. .
As for unsubsidized medicines, there is no problem with them, as subsidies have been lifted for most of the medicines in pharmacies and 95 percent of the medicines sold in pharmacies, and the movement of importing these medicines is almost normal, and what was cut off from them will return to the market. Importers have an interest in importing medicines, and this is their job, according to Gharib.
The head of the Pharmacists Syndicate in Lebanon, Joe Salloum, in his interview with “An-Nahar”, explains that “the biggest problem today is the interruption of medicines that are still partially or completely subsidized by the state from the Lebanese market, especially medicines for cancerous diseases and incurable diseases such as multiple sclerosis and others, and there is no money for support, but Most of the medicines for which subsidies were lifted are now available.
Medicines for cancerous diseases and incurable diseases need between 50 to 60 million dollars a month to cover them, and the state used to provide them with only 25 million dollars from Lebanon’s special drawing rights, “but today it is not known how much the state will be able to provide from the 25 million dollars. Special drawing is a matter linked to a decision by the government.”
According to Salloum, 50 to 60 percent of these drugs are not available, and cancer patients are forced to stop their treatment or switch to other treatment protocols, and what is more dangerous is what is being circulated regarding the existence of lesser and better quality drugs that these patients take, “but they are not a field of experiments and we must preserve They have the same quality of medicine and from known sources. In his opinion, “a sustainable drug policy, such as a health card, unification of guarantee funds, an integrated plan, and a call for a donors’ conference for a sustainable drug policy must be established. From here, we called for a dialogue table to be held in order to give the issue of medicine the utmost importance.”
Salloum states that many of the missing medicines are available on the black market, and regarding 30 to 40 percent of the medicines that enter the Lebanese market are smuggled, and a large part of them are counterfeit, expired, or tampered with in the manner of its powers, and have high prices. In addition, there are many illegal pharmacies and dispensaries where these drugs are sold.
The Ministry of Health had issued the MEDLEB application since the beginning of the year to know the price of the drug and its available alternatives in light of the drug shortage crisis. In this context, Salloum says that this application is used by many and has been somewhat effective because it shows more transparency and is a tool in the hands of the patient.
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