“Lebanon’s Pharmaceutical Struggle: Challenges, Loss of Medications, and the Fight Against Smuggling”

2023-05-11 13:54:11

Samar El-Khoury wrote in Markazia:

The pharmaceutical sector continues its struggle to withstand and persist in the suffocating crisis that greatly affects this sector as a result of many factors that play a negative role preventing the re-launch of the required dynamism in order to mobilize pharmacies in the Lebanese regions. Despite all the challenges, the union insists on performing its role on more than one level, taking into account the difficulties that accompany its path.

loss of medications

Many medicines are still missing from pharmacies, and here the head of the Pharmacists Syndicate, Joe Salloum, distinguishes between two types of them, which are of course subsidized and unsubsidized. The subsidized, Salloum told Markazia, needs money to secure it, and we are all aware of the state’s economic reality today, despite the efforts made by the Ministry of Health, but there is a major economic obstacle to securing it.

As for the medicines for which subsidies were lifted, most of them are now available, says the Syndicate of Pharmacists, but there are some problems that are still pending between the drug companies at home and those abroad, because of the money owed, which led to the removal of Lebanon from the list of priorities of international drug companies. And putting it on the waiting list, which causes delays in securing unsubsidized medicine and supplying it to the local market.

Foreign workers.. and pharmacists

The exacerbation of the pharmacists’ crisis is not limited to the loss of medicine, but rather to speculation. From here, Salloum confirms the start of a campaign once morest illegal pharmacies, or those run by those who do not hold a pharmacy license, and others that are employed from non-Lebanese nationalities. The Lebanese who replace the Lebanese in his work.” The syndicate’s ultimate goal is to preserve the quality and quality of the health system in Lebanon.

Salloum stresses that the campaign continues until the closure of these pharmacies, especially since they are spread in various Lebanese regions, including illegal ones and others that bear a partisan character. There are also unlicensed pharmacies that sell drugs that are not registered with the Ministry of Health or are smuggled, which naturally pose a danger to Patient health, stressing the cooperation between the Pharmacists Syndicate and the Ministries of Health and Labor to follow up on these files.

smuggling

Despite raising the voice once morest the smuggled medicine, Salloum denies the existence of any serious measures to solve this file, and says: “Things are as they are,” adding: “Unfortunately, despite the availability of medicines, smuggling of medicine continues, hoping at the same time that a president will be elected.” New to the country and the formation of a government to give the issue of smuggling priority.

Pharmacists Conference

Recently, the sector witnessed the failure of many pharmacies, and the emigration of a significant percentage of pharmacists.. Therefore, on January 21, which coincides with the “Pharmacist’s Day”, the Pharmacists Syndicate is organizing a conference entitled “Lebanon remains the pharmacy of the East.” The title summarizes the importance of this sector, which has been affected. There is a lot going on in the crisis, and those in charge of it seek to restore the momentum to it in terms of preserving the quality and availability of medicine, says Captain Salloum, who talks regarding the objectives of the conference, which is to highlight the role of the pharmacist, and the importance of preserving this great role, which declined with the smuggled medicines, which led to the closure of many Scientific offices, the emigration of many pharmacists, as well as the closure of many companies and the faltering of pharmacies.. promising to continue to perform his professional duty in combating all those who stand in the way of protecting the life of the patient / citizen, while rejecting any change affecting the face of Lebanon.

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