Despite Promises, Egypt Witnesses A Massive Hike in Medicine Prices
The Ministry of Health has agreed to raise the prices of 30 pharmaceutical drugs on Tuesday from 10% to
50% after weeks of pressure from drug companies.
Despite Ahmed Emad Rady, The Minister of Health, confirmation that there won’t be any raise in
the drugs prices, the increase came as a shock to the people.
Rasha Zeyada, the Chairperson of the Health Ministry’s Central Administration for Pharmaceutical Affairs,
announced that blood pressure, cardiac, pressure and neurology drugs are among the drugs which
prices will increase.
Zeyada stated that the ministry’s Committee on Drugs Pricing is increasing their costs as the pharmaceutical companies are spending more money on production than what they get from selling them.
Zeyada pointed out that 222 drugs are currently facing shortage but assured that there are substitutes
and that there won’t be any further increase in drug prices in general.
Drug shortage in Egypt has been common issue since 2016 as it’s directly affected by the rise of the US
dollar exchange rate as the effective materials used in the production of drugs are bought in hard
currency.
