Millions face hardship in Egypt as shortages of vital medicine deepen

Prices surge on black market as pills for diabetes and other chronic illnesses disappear from shelves

Many people living with chronic illnesses in Egypt are facing hardship as pharmacy shelves run empty because of a shortage of foreign currency to import vital medicine.

Pills for diabetes – a condition that affects about 11 million in Egypt – blood pressure, cancer and psychiatric conditions are largely unavailable, pharmacists and patients say.

Where such medicine can be found, prices have surged due to the widespread shortages, leading to a thriving black market, as well as bogus versions of treatments that can be dangerous for patients.

“I have been on medication to treat my bipolar disorder for more than six years,” said one woman, 33, referring to between 30 and 60 Lamictal pills she needs each month.

“I am entirely dependent on it. A few months ago, I would only have to search several pharmacies around me to find it.

“Now, I am lucky if I can find one strip of 10 pills per month.”

The woman said she was told Lamictal was not considered as essential as other drugs, and pharmacies were not receiving enough supplies.

The drug now costs five times more than it did in December.

“It has been a month since I have had to reduce my dosage. I cannot imagine what it’s like for someone who has more than psychological symptoms to deal with,” she said.

Lamictal is one of many drugs that have soared in price.

In the past, Egypt’s government has subsidised and regulated medicine prices to prevent profiteering and ensure that even the poorest people have access to them.

But these measures have largely been abandoned in the past two years as the country has been hit hard by an economic downturn. Annual core inflation dropped to 29.8 per cent in January, from 33.7 per cent in December, the statistics agency said last Thursday.

Suppliers have raised prices to make up for the rapid increase in costs of importing drugs and ingredients, as the Egyptian pound falls.

The shortages have become much worse, compared with early last year, and things are now at a critical level, Dr Noha El Sayed, who runs a pharmacy in Cairo’s Heliopolis district, told The National.

“About 80 per cent of our listed medications are not available,” she said.

Antibiotics such as Augmentin and Zithromax, which are used to treat various diseases, have also disappeared from shelves, along with tablet-form cancer medications, Dr El Sayed said. Cancer treatments given by injection are still offered at specialised hospitals, she added.

But some patients who take such medicine in pill form have started to buy it through unofficial channels.

Black market versions of wellknown brands, which may be expired or cut with additional substances, are circulating.

Some people are resorting to unauthorised types of insulin and thyroid treatments, as well as blood disorder medications, as approved brands are scarce.

Apart from costing up to 10 times their listed prices in some cases, Dr El Sayed said, black market pills are unregulated and often contain more or less of the listed ingredients than they should.

“Some are just sugar or mineral pills, which can be dangerous for cancer and diabetes, because patients who don’t take their daily dose can take a turn for the worse very easily,” she warned.

While locally made substitutes are available for some of the imported medicine in short supply, many patients refuse to take these and insist

Black market pills are unregulated and often contain more or less of the ingredients than they should, doctors say

on only purchasing drugs with the brand name prescribed by their doctor.

“A lot of patients will choose to go back to their doctor to check that the local alternative is viable before taking it, they don’t trust that it will work as well,” Dr El Sayed said.

“In some cases, though, they’re not wrong. Some of the local alternatives for diabetes have caused some of my customers side effects.”

Local manufacturers have been unable to fill the growing demand for medicine.

The Egyptian chamber of commerce’s pharmaceuticals division said this month that the main issue was a shortage of foreign currency to pay for imports of medications and raw materials.

However, the division’s head downplayed the shortages during a televised phone-in to Al Hekaya, a popular talk show, on Monday. He said that “the public sector has enough.”

Government officials also addressed the crisis on TV last week, promising that Egypt had stockpiled enough insulin and cancer medicine.