Egyptians face medicine scarcity as pound falls
cairo — Fatima was already struggling to find cancer drugs for her father when a devaluation of the Egyptian pound this month caused the imported medicine to disappear altogether.
“Before, I could still find it if I searched in several pharmacies. Today I can’t,” said the 34-year old teacher, who asked not to be named in full.
A dollar crunch over the past year had already driven up prices for imports including drugs, causing shortages in medicines to treat diabetes, heart and kidney diseases.
That turned into a crisis this month after Egypt floated its currency as part of an economic reform package linked to a $12-billion IMF loan. The Egyptian pound, which had been pegged at 8.89 to the dollar, now trades at banks for up to 17 pounds a dollar.
“Right after the central bank decision, distribution companies informed us there would be a quota for imported medicines each pharmacy can get,” said Maryse Michel, who works at a pharmacy on a busy street in Cairo.
“Every day people come asking for medicines I don’t have — maybe 40 per cent of clients,” she said.
Distributors say importing drugs or their ingredients has become more expensive, but they cannot pass on the extra costs to clients as the government has set prices for the medicines.
The health ministry in turn accuses distributors of stockpiling the medicines to jack up prices. Medicines are the latest products affected by the falling pound, with shortages in other imports as Egypt embarks on a painful austerity programme after years of unrest that have battered its economy.
Egypt has a large pharmaceutical industry, but it also relies on imported ingredients. “Ninety-nine per cent of components of medicines manufactured in Egypt are imported,” said Mohi Hafiz, a board member on the pharmaceutical division of the Federation of Egyptian Industry.
“When the official dollar price goes from 8.8 to 17.7, it becomes too costly,” he said.
‘Distributors starving the market of drugs’