Syrians start complaining of medication shortage

Source : Xinhua | English.news.cn

AMASCUS, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- "She peeked from under her glasses at the prescription, wrinkled her nose and said hastily: 'sorry I have none of those drugs.' She kept repeating the same things to at least four customers," Sahar, a mother of two, described what happened to her when searching for medication for eczema to her 16- year-old daughter at a drug store in the Syrian capital of Damascus.

"Most of the medical factories have shut down and a lot of drugs have disappeared from the market," the pharmacist told Sahar resentfully.

While the pharmacist was explaining to Sahar about the medication shortage, a man burst into the pharmacy and put a prescription on the table in front of the pharmacist, exclaiming: "Do you have this drug?... I looked for it at several pharmacies but I didn't find it!"

"Regretfully, no," the pharmacist answered.

Some pharmacies said that the shortage will be more severe due to the absence of a quick and appropriate solution to restart the medicine manufacturing plants, most of them in Syria's northern province of Aleppo and Rif Damascus.

Head of Syria's syndicate of pharmacists, Fares al-Sha'ar, told local media recently that the crisis could be solved by raising the price of drugs to enable pharmaceutical companies to secure raw materials.

He indicated that the government's approval to raise prices up to a maximum 40 percent is necessary and a step in the right direction but not enough, "as this would barely cover the cost."

Syria's Minister of Health Saad al-Nayef reportedly said that the economic sanctions imposed on Syria have heavily harmed the country's health sector.

Nayef revealed that 32 national hospitals are now out of service, adding that six pharmaceutical laboratories have been totally destroyed and 68 others are still working with 50-percent capacity.

He denied reports about the absence of many drugs in the local market, hinting only to the difficulty of transporting them.

However, some medical sources confirmed that there are serious studies to increase domestic prices of medicines between 50 and 100 percent.