Rashid al-Faisal, president of the Assad regime’s Scientific Council for Pharmaceutical Industries, made media statements in the context of the growing promotion of increased medicine prices. He warned of a worsening crisis in access to medicines in areas controlled by the regime.
Faisal said that the decline of the pharmaceutical industry and the reluctance of many industrialists to produce will lead to a major pharmaceutical crisis. He added that the burdens borne by the pharmaceutical industry are very large, which made it hard as a result of the high prices of everything that enters the local production processes.
He considered that there are external matters such as the difficulty of obtaining raw materials, the high shipping costs, conversion processes, and the obstacles surrounding them. He added that he does not look at the pharmaceutical industry in the way it deserves, but rather it needs all the attention because it is a key pillar in ensuring pharmaceutical security.
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He called for looking at prices from the perspective of a shortage of production supplies of cartons, glass bottles, and many more. He claims that “real efforts are being made to achieve justice and secure the demands of the pharmaceutical industry because any decline in the industry is a loss for the nation and everyone.”
He claimed that the government’s discussion of the legislative decree to exempt pharmaceutical production supplies from customs duties was a positive initiative. He said that “Syrian medicine is safe, effective and monitored by the Ministry of Health. Every medicine package bears the number and name of the factory and the date of manufacture and production”.
This comes as the media prepares for the increase in the price of medicines. The marketing manager of a pharmaceutical company in regime-controlled areas, Ayman Judiyah, recently considered that there is no solution to the problem of the pharmaceutical industry except through fair pricing based on real costs. He was calling for higher prices and added that smuggled medicines are a threat to health because they may be counterfeit and ineffective.
The Director-General of the General Foundation for Foreign Trade stated that most of the pharmaceutical groups are now present in Syria and do not suffer from any bottlenecks. One of the government’s priorities is to secure medicines, according to media affiliated with the Assad regime.
A local radio station loyal to the Assad regime quoted media statements from the chairman of the Board of Directors of the Syrian Insurance Corporation and the head of the Pharmacists’ Syndicate for the Damascus branch, Alia al-Assad, during which she talked about the availability of medicines in areas of regime control, and considered that the smuggled medicine is unreliable.
Pro-regime media sources point to the dramatic escalation of the medical crisis. Some warehouses for the storage of medical materials are refraining from selling medicines as a result of fluctuating prices. Some items are continuously interrupted for more than a month, such as inflammatory medicines of all kinds. This comes in addition to the shortage and large scarcity of materials and commodities.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
