Awad Gabr, chairman of the Export Council of Medical Industries warned Sunday of shortage in a large number of medicines on the Egyptian market, as well as losses sustained by pharmaceutical companies that prompted new investors to stop their projects for fear of failure.
The drop in the prices of medicines compared to the cost of its production has caused companies to suspend the production of a variety of medicines that reached 700 drugs.
Gabr explained that the suspended drugs were used by poor people as the price of the packaging was less than LE5.
The prices of about 30 percent of drugs on the Egyptian market need to change so as companies continue to produce them, he added.
Each drug has about 12 other alternative drugs on the market, but as long as the companies suffer losses, they do not produce the cheap alternatives and keep the drugs which have the highest prices to compel consumers to buy them, the fact which put further burden on citizens, said Gabr.
Eighty medicine factories out of 126 operating in Egypt have sustained losses as the government refuses to increase the prices of drugs, he said. Sixty other factories that were under construction have been suspended, he added.
The companies plan to increase the prices of drugs that cost less than LE5 to ensure continuing their production, Gabr mentioned.
He added the Cabinet has promised to cancel a deal to Saudi Arabia by which the Arab country imports Egyptian pharmaceutical products at domestic prices. He pointed out the Cabinet has not taken yet serious steps toward the issue.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
