A cancer patient who was carrying his medicine box in his hands did not expect that his promised antidote would be just “water and salt”, following he took the trouble to bring it from Turkey; He was hoping that his precious medicine would eliminate his cancerous disease, only to be surprised that his hope was disappointed following discovering the truth regarding “water” in medicine, and that he had fallen victim to fraud and corruption.
The patient entered the Mount Lebanon Hospital to receive his treatment, and the surprise was that what was supposed to be a treatment was just “water and salt”, and that the medicine he bought with the rise of the soul was nothing.
Today, no one knows the amount of counterfeit medicines that entered Lebanon without effective medical supervision, but it is certain that these medicines are widespread, and the evidence is what the “Mount Lebanon” Hospital revealed, following it was preceded by the discovery of another hospital in a similar incident, following the discovery of two forged dishes as well. to another cancer drug months ago.
And because the disease of cancer requires precision, preparedness, and special care, it is not possible to proceed with any medication without ensuring its effectiveness and quality. This is what prompted the hospital to examine him, and it turned out that he was “May and Salt”; Were it not for the hospital and its capabilities, the patient would certainly have been unable to discover the truth, and he might have paid the price of corruption from his health and age.
It is noteworthy that some of these counterfeit medicines, which entered Lebanon in large quantities, and were discovered through the “cooking number”, were given to cancer patients during the election period. The issue is serious, and it cannot be tolerated! But who monitors the medicines that enter illegally?
Who guarantees its quality and efficacy?
What is the validity of what the Lebanese patient takes in light of the drug crisis that is afflicting the country?
These medicines that come in bags have become suspicious, as not everything we see in a packaged box, with the name of the medicine on it, is a medicine or a good substance.
This incident brings to mind several scandals, including the scandal of the counterfeit “Plavix” medicine that shook Lebanon, the scandal of “cancer serums that were just ‘my and salt'”, in addition to the scandal of some illegal clinics that contained smuggled and counterfeit medicines. These health scandals are politically backed by those with great influence, as some of them come out “like a hair out of dough.”
The fraud and forgery that is taking place with patients at the expense of their health, prompted the Captain of Pharmacists, Joe Salloum, to raise his voice and demand to stand once morest any attempt to repeat what happened. He explained to “An-Nahar” by saying, “Today, we stand by every patient who is subjected to various types of forgery to prevent him from being killed with counterfeit or smuggled medicine. We stand by the patient who bought a cancer drug, and it turned out to be a forgery, because the state did not put in place the right plan to secure good medicine.”
Salloum stressed that “counterfeit and smuggled medicines come from everywhere, and are not confined to one country, not to mention the extent of their effectiveness as a result of smuggling, and the exposure of these medicines to heat and humidity. The power outage threatened the medicines in pharmacies, so how regarding those that pass under sunlight and in suspicious conditions?!”
Therefore, Salloum calls for “the adoption of a clear drug plan that begins with a price index for medicines issued periodically, which secures the delivery of medicine from importers to pharmacies. As long as medicines are cut off and unavailable, smuggled and counterfeit medicines will continue to enter Lebanon in various ways; the patient is looking for an alternative, and this loss drives some traders To exploit the crisis to make profits away from the effectiveness, quality or danger of these drugs to the health of the patient.”
Salloum warns that “we are facing a very dangerous health situation, and we cannot tolerate the large spread of counterfeit and smuggled medicines in warehouses, bags, on social media and in places of worship. , and all
He got into the black market game, monopoly and cheating, even in health!”
It is not the first time that drug tampering and fraud have been revealed. Two months ago, the Meditrack system revealed that this recipe was not imported into Lebanon, and accordingly the laboratory abroad was contacted to analyze the recipe, which revealed that it was forged.
This incident, which was included in the individual incident, came through illegal smuggling and includes two counterfeit recipes for the same medicine. According to the head of the Pharmacy Department at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Colette Raidy, in a previous interview with Al-Nahar, “The Ministry of Health informed hospitals, pharmacies and all those concerned regarding this recipe, and a decision was issued to prevent and withdraw circulation and circulate it to the entire health sector in the event that a patient came carrying this recipe of the drug. However, we did not report similar cases from any hospital, and they remained within the individual incident, and it was not through the hospital that buys the drug through correct and legal channels.”
On the other hand, Karim Jbara, the head of the Syndicate of Drug Importers, admits that “what we discover of counterfeit medicines is a small part of the medicines available in the Lebanese market, and it is due to the decision of some hospitals to review the medicine that the patient provides himself to ensure its quality and quality, which allows detecting manipulation and fraud. Therefore, these efforts are made by some doctors, nurses, and hospitals for some sensitive drugs, such as cancer drugs, following trying to communicate with the manufacturers to verify the serial number of the drug and some information regarding it. This research helped to uncover some cases of forgery, but the number is much higher.
Jbara believes that “the vacuum resulting from the drug interruption in the Lebanese market has helped smuggling networks spread a year ago, as there are organized smuggling networks and continuous trips abroad to bring medicines without the supervision of the Ministry, Customs, and the Pharmacists Syndicate, and sell them through social media. The problem is that we did not disclose Except for some medicines for cancerous diseases, because the hospital seeks to search for the quality of this medicine, and to ensure its validity, but for patients with heart, pressure and chronic diseases, there is no one to request a review of their medicines that they provide, and therefore we do not know the extent of their safety and effectiveness.”
Accordingly, a large part of the drug market in Lebanon falls outside the regular supervision of the Ministry and the Syndicates, and part of this market has become dependent on smuggling, including counterfeiting.
According to Jayara, “the pharmacists noticed that people buy their medicines from outside pharmacies, which made the medicine out of organized import, and it became in the hands of smuggling networks.”
But what is the solution?
In Gebara’s opinion, “This drug vacuum must be filled by supporting and activating the drug regulation network (importers), in order to import drugs, thus contributing to breaching illegal smuggling networks, and limiting their activity and spread. In the previous experience, drug support and unavailability in Lebanon led to To open the way for smugglers, but with the policy of rationalizing medicine, which the Minister of Health decided to adopt to focus the funds allocated for importing essential medicines, especially the most intractable ones, and removing subsidies from other medicines, and keeping the two cheapest medicines of each type.”
