REPORT: Medicine, between breakthroughs and scandals

The scandal of imported counterfeit medicine is considered a breakthrough for some and a scandal for others.        

One of the drug companies accused of importing counterfeit medicine made a "request of mercy" and asked for permission to import medications that were not imported according to the cooling standards. The problem lies in the fact that they got the green light.        

In this regard, the member of the parliamentary health committee MP Ismail Sukkariya said that a company imported large quantities of medicine of an unknown composition by fraud.       

The drugs were reportedly imported from South Asia.       

Sukkariya told LBCI that medicines were smuggled via European countries to be sealed, adding that they reached Lebanon after the approval of the Minister of Health who denied having any knowledge of this.       

A list of the names of these medications was published on the website of the Syndicate of Pharmacists alongside their formulas and concerned pharmaceutical depots. Given that not all of the names included in the list are counterfeit, the formula must be checked carefully.        

In this regard, Colette Raidy, head of the Inspection Department at the Health Ministry stressed that laying hands on such an important case is a huge accomplishment, adding that counterfeit medicines were discovered weeks ago.         

Reaidy told LBCI that Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil took the necessary measures in terms of monitoring, stressing that the ministry seized the counterfeit medicines from all pharmaceutical depots.       

According to the ministry, 99% of counterfeit drugs have been revoked but surprisingly, while it called for the withdrawal of these medicines from the market on October 23, it was only on November 7 that pharmacies were asked to do so, i.e. after the media scandal. This raises many questions on whether there was an intention to withdraw them in the first place.  


For the full LBCI report, watch the video above