2023-08-06 15:54:15
The high cost of medicines has prompted Syrians to buy some items from black markets instead of pharmacies, despite the high health risks resulting from the lack of “smuggled” medicines that are offered on stalls to health control over their effectiveness and validity.
In addition to the high prices of medicines, some are forced to search for some types of medicines in the stalls, because they are not available in pharmacies.
And while the pharmaceutical companies are calling for an increase in the prices of medicines due to the high production cost and the depreciation of the lira, the companies’ pharmacists are accused of not selling many groups and types of medicines, in anticipation of an upcoming rise in the prices of medicines, following the Pharmacists Syndicate in Damascus confirmed earlier this month that the Ministry of Health is studying Adjusting the prices of some drug items so that there is no disruption to these items from the market.
Pharmaceutical companies say that they are exposed to huge losses because they buy imported raw materials in US dollars, while operations are carried out in Syrian pounds, in addition to the high cost of production due to the high cost of energy carriers, consumables, and transportation.
Accusations of monopoly are not limited to warehouses and pharmaceutical companies, but rather extend to pharmacies, according to witnesses to Al-Modon from Aleppo, explaining that “the majority of pharmacists store medicines and refuse to sell them under the pretext of unavailability.”
A schoolteacher residing in Aleppo told Al-Modon that she is facing great difficulty in securing some types of medicines, such as antibiotics, blood pressure medicines, and blood thinners. the next day following the new rate.
According to the teacher, the therapeutic efficacy of local medicines has declined a lot, indicating that “she does not mind raising the prices of the medicine in return for improving its effectiveness and therapeutic ability.”
On the part of the regime, official media confirmed that the government of the regime tends to agree to raise the price of medicines, noting that it did not raise them for a long time, and by a rate that reached more than 50-80 percent, justifying this by claiming that they are still available in the market, and in line with the high exchange rate. According to the Central Bank Bulletin.
She added that the pharmaceutical industry needs large costs that constantly push companies to demand higher prices in order to avoid loss or having to close their doors and lay off their cadres, but at the same time the economic situation of the citizen must be taken into consideration, without offering any solutions or demanding the need to improve the living situation and raise wages.
At the beginning of the year 2023, the Ministry of Health of the Syrian regime raised the prices of medicines by 50 percent, and the excuse is that they continue to be available in the market, and regarding a month before that, prices were also raised, which eventually led to the majority of Syrians dispensing with buying medicines except in necessary and extreme cases. .
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