Head of the Egyptian Drug Authority Ali Al-Ghamrawy announced that the medicine shortage crisis in Egypt will be resolved within the next two months.
Al-Ghamrawy release came during a press conference, where he provided detailed insights into the current state of the pharmaceutical industry in Egypt and the measures being taken to address the shortage.
Al-Ghamrawy disclosed that Egypt currently has 15,000 priced and registered drugs. Despite this, monitoring has revealed complaints regarding the shortage of 81 types of drugs, all of which have equivalents and alternatives available in the market.
To address this issue, the authority has introduced a new availability service designed to ensure that citizens can access the medications they need and assist in identifying drugs that are in shortage.
Patients can enter the required drug’s name through an electronic system, and it will display available equivalents and alternatives. The authority will then take necessary measures to ensure the provision of the specified drug, Al-Ghamrawy explained.
“We receive about 1,000 calls daily inquiring about drugs, which prompted us to create this service,” Al-Ghamrawy said.
The authority has also adopted a horizontal distribution system for medicines, which aims to distribute drugs more efficiently across various pharmacies. This system is intended to prevent the accumulation of medicines in a limited number of pharmacies, ensuring wider availability.
Notably, Al-Ghamrawy mentioned that diabetes medications will soon be available in large quantities.
Source: Al-Ahram Online
