2023-07-14 15:58:20
Day after day, the markets for counterfeiting and smuggling are expanding in Lebanon. After medicines, the Lebanese were surprised that the trafficking in their lives reached food supplements, in light of the failure of those concerned to control the greed of merchants and protect people’s lives.
“The health situation in Lebanon is miserable, and there are a large number of medicines spread in it whose quality is manipulated and enters the country without accountability or control,” according to what the Pharmacists Syndicate President, Dr. For Lebanon’s health and drug identity through the proliferation of illegal pharmacies, shops, bag dealers, and online, and there are patients who died because they did not get their medicine because it was subsidized and was smuggled abroad, and no one moved a finger.
The medicine sector in Lebanon was not spared from the economic crisis, and after the loss of medicines from pharmacies due to the lack of dollars in the Central Bank, the Lebanese government lifted the subsidies completely and partially from most of them, so that the support was limited to stubborn medicines and some chronic medicines, and yet the amount allocated to them is not sufficient, which led to the continuation of the crisis.
The drug mafias took advantage of the need of the Lebanese market, so they played their role, helped by the absence of adequate oversight, and the patient’s need to obtain his medicine, regardless of its source, even if it was not subject to medical analyzes proving that it conforms to health specifications, after he despaired of finding it legally.
Deadly poisons
A few days ago, social networking sites in Lebanon were buzzing with the news of the arrest of a woman for forging a food supplement and distributing it without obtaining a license from the Ministry of Health, and without observing the standards imposed globally in the manufacture of medicines. Security officials, as well as with the judges in charge of the investigation, and he “strengthens their hand to go to the end in stopping all forms of forgery and smugglers of medicine or nutritional supplements.”
Salloum emphasized that “counterfeited food supplements are no less dangerous than medicines, and have become sold on social media and in shops,” pointing out the need for the Lebanese authorities to play their role to suppress violations, and for pharmacists not to buy any medicine or food supplement that is not registered with the Ministry of Health, and to scrutinize the matter. to the maximum extent possible.
From several countries, smuggled medicines enter Lebanon, some of which are forged and the other part is not preserved properly, meaning that it turns into a deadly poison. Indeed, some cancer medicines were discovered to be water, according to the head of the “Barbara Nassar” association that deals with cancer patients, Hani Nassar. Even if medicine is available in Lebanon, some pharmacies have turned into shops, meaning that they sell any type of medicine that is sweet from outside the list registered with the Ministry of Health.
In an interview with “Al-Hurra” website, Nassar points out to a basic problem, related to medicines that are part of the basic treatment for cancer patients in hospitals, “after the Ministry of Health lifted subsidies for everything whose price is less than $300, either entirely, such as chemotherapy sessions, or partially, i.e. remained subsidized on The exchange rate is 15,000 pounds,” he explains, “The cost of a chemotherapy session ranged from 700 to 900 dollars, in addition to a hospital bill of 300 to 400 dollars, which forced some patients to stop their treatment and some of them died, although there was great hope for his recovery if he was able to receive treatment.” .
“the indictment circle”
The main problem, according to the head of the “Health is Right and Dignity” campaign, former MP Dr. Ismail Sukariyeh, lies in not activating the central control laboratory to examine the drug before it legally enters Lebanon, and instead the drugs are entered in an illegal way that kills the health of citizens, stressing that it raises The voice 26 years ago without being heard.
In an interview with Al-Hurra website, Sukkariyeh describes the Ministry of Health and Parliament as “false witnesses” in the issue of medicines, and about the beneficiaries of this chaos, he explains, “on the financial level, the black market mafia and after the countries that market their medicines,” stressing that “a number of patients, especially Cancer patients died as a result of the Ministry of Health not securing their medicine or because the medicine they sought help from abroad was ineffective.
And it was previously confirmed in a statement that the Ministry of Health is moving away from its responsible role, “and even evading it and following the policy of pharmaceutical outsourcing, as one of the pharmacies in Jubail was famous for many years for monopolizing medicines that disappeared from the ministry and selling them at prices up to ten times sometimes, so the ministry obliged some pharmacies, the most important of which is one In Beirut, it carries a long history and files in the central inspection since the nineties, to import cancer drugs from Turkey, some of which appeared to be forged, and the patient is not returned what he paid except with a discount of at least a hundred dollars.
Sukkariyeh stressed that “enough is really enough, and His Excellency’s missionary promises and his repetition of the threat to hold the corrupt accountable only remind me of the words of the Arab poet Jarir: Al-Farazdaq claimed that he would kill a square. Preach the length of safety, O square.”
And when Salloum was asked yesterday, Thursday, whether he had informed the Minister of Public Health in the caretaker government, Firas Abyad, about the smuggled medicine, he replied, “The issue of smuggled and counterfeit medicine and its disastrous effects on the patient’s health does not need someone to inform him about it. This issue is well known, more than 30 to 40 percent of the cases.” The medicines present in the Lebanese market today are smuggled medicines, and most of them are counterfeit and are not registered with the Ministry of Health. We are not only talking about medicines, but also about food supplements.”
For his part, the Minister of Health commented on the issue of counterfeit medicines during a radio interview, yesterday, Thursday, by saying that “the ministry is cooperating with the security forces to limit the entry of these drugs illegally, and it is also cooperating with the Pharmacists Syndicate to ensure that these drugs are not stored in pharmacies, and whoever does that Measures are being taken against him that amount to closing the pharmacy.”
Lawsuits
It is unacceptable, as Salloum says, for “a patient to be given a drug that is not licensed by the Ministry of Health, and we know its type and quality. The patient is not a field of experiment in anyone’s hands and is not a place for personal benefits. Health is the basis for preserving citizens and preserving Lebanon’s reputation and the quality of health in it and the image that we wish for.” “.
In order to put an end to the drug crisis and the chaos of its market, according to Nassar, “financing must be secured for the Ministry of Health in order to meet the needs of patients, and at the same time the National Social Security Fund must return to covering medicines, especially those related to chemotherapy, for which subsidies were lifted, and this is what I promised to do after a social responsibility.” As I was asked to draw up a list of essential medicines for them to conduct a study, we do not know how long it will take and how many patients will die until then.”
In order to punish all those who kill patients, the Pharmacists Syndicate, according to Salloum, filed “lawsuits before the General Court of Appeal and the Financial Court, and there is a response today from the judiciary, but it is nothing but a response,” considering that “we need more active steps from officials, as they cannot, under the pretext of the lack of medicine.” In Lebanon, they should legitimize all forms of chaos in terms of drug preparation and illegal pharmacies, and allow the entry of medicines from Iran, Syria, Turkey and India, without anyone paying any attention to this issue.
The Ministry of Health also transferred the file of introducing “counterfeited vitamins to the Public Prosecution,” according to Abyad, stressing that “the inspectors are doing their part and there will be no leniency with the violators,” hoping that the judiciary will take the most severe measures against them.
Article 92 of Law No. 367 of the Practice of the Pharmacy Profession in Lebanon punishes anyone who attempts to cheat in all aspects related to medicine, as it states, “He shall be punished with a fine from ten million to fifty million Lebanese pounds, and imprisonment from one to three years, or one of these two penalties, in addition to To the confiscation of medicine for the account of the Ministry of Public Health, whoever commits fraud in pharmaceutical materials, or sells counterfeit, smuggled, expired, unregistered, or prohibited medicines.
And she added, “Any pharmacist who is convicted of a felony or an infamous misdemeanour, who commits fraud in pharmaceuticals, sells secret medicines or drugs, or illegally practices the medical profession, is forfeited from practicing the profession of pharmacy.”
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