2023-04-28 15:54:50
Amidst the roar of bullets and air strikes covering the sky of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, Ahmed Issa searched in vain for 4 full hours for diabetes and high blood pressure medications for his sick father, before he barely got enough doses for three days.
This comes amid fears of a major drug disaster due to the widespread looting and destruction that affected a large number of pharmacies and pharmaceutical factories in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.
In light of the overwhelming chaos that accompanied the two-week fighting between the army and the Rapid Support Forces, a number of pharmacies, factories, companies and drug stores in large areas of the capital, Khartoum, were exposed during the past three days, which greatly affected the drug stock, which was already suffering from a shortage of more than 70 million pounds. percent in life-saving drugs.
The Association of Professional Pharmacists in Sudan expected a large drug gap that threatens a catastrophe in the health sector in the country, noting that the lack of medicine increases the fragility of the health system in Sudan, especially in light of the storming of hospitals and health centers, of which more than 70 percent are out of service.
Salah Jaafar, spokesman for the Association of Professional Pharmacists, told Sky News Arabia that the scarcity and lack of medical and medical supplies from health centers, hospitals and pharmacies portends a health catastrophe that is difficult to control.
Jaafar pointed to the great suffering facing patients and their families in light of the closure of most pharmacies due to security concerns.
In addition to the extreme scarcity of many major types of medicines, the prices of medicine and medical solutions have increased by more than 300 percent during the past days, which exacerbates the suffering of patients in a country where more than 60 percent of its population of about 40 million people live below the poverty line. .
Jaafar revealed serious repercussions resulting from the high prices of medicines and their scarcity, represented in the spread of the phenomenon of counterfeit and smuggled medicines, which pose a great threat to people’s lives.
Jaafar warns that the continuation of the current situation in the pharmaceutical sector will lead to an increase in death rates or a prolongation of the disease period.
Before the outbreak of the fighting, the features of the drug crisis had begun to appear clearly through the shelves of many public and private pharmacies that were almost empty, and there was great discontent among consumers because of the high prices of the few items available.
Concerns have increased recently that more than 160 small and large companies operating in the pharmaceutical production and import sector in Sudan have stopped due to the large increase in drug registration fees, at a time when the local industry suffers from many obstacles and problems that impede the possibility of increasing its market share.
Pharmacist Bahaa Al-Haj told Sky News Arabia that the great shortage of medicines negatively affects everyone, especially patients who suffer from chronic diseases, as some of them are forced to either give up some of the safe types that they were using or reduce doses, which puts their lives at risk.
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