An informed source from Health Ministry said the US company producing Sovaldi, which cures the Hepatitis C virus, has been late for the second time in delivering the medicine, which has caused the ministry to reschedule patient appointments for examination for 10 months.
In remarks to Al-Masry Al-Youm, the source accused the company of manipulation, saying that the ministry declared on 23 October it had received 50,000 doses of the first batch and that it was going to get 35,000 doses a week later, in addition to 42,000 doses in November and 59,000 doses in December and that the rest of the amount would reach 225,000 doses before end of February, which did not happen. The source added that the doses of October and November were not received.
According to the source, an another reason behind rescheduling the examination date was the shortage of the Ribavirin medicine, given to Hep C virus patients, in addition to Sovaldi and Interferon. All centers affiliated to the National Committee for the Control of Viral Hepatitis did not provide the treatment. Health Minister Adel al-Adawy declared on 17 October the medicine would be provided at three centers and another eight centers a week late, which did not happen, the source said.
Many doctors at the centers affiliated to the committee said the ministry has made a grave error in dealing with eight million Egyptians suffering from the virus. They added that no precautions were made to limit the spread of the disease, which infects around 150,000 annually.
In October, it was disclosed that only 50,000 out of the 225,000 doses were received and that the agreement between the ministry and the US company did not force the company to import the rest of the batches, as there is no penalty clause forcing the company to do so.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
