Pharmacies face shortage in drugs due to rapidly rising exchange rate

The stock of medicines in pharmacies is sufficient for only two days because of the continuous rise in the dollar exchange rate. The country is already suffering from a shortage of medications in warehouses.
 
According to the head of the Pharmacists Syndicate, Joe Salloum, the bulk of the companies importing medicines and local factories stopped delivering medications and infant formula to pharmacies two days ago.

This coincided with the Ministry of Health's refusal to issue a new drug price index to keep pace with the dollar's rise, which threatens a drug crisis.

The head of the Syndicate of Pharmaceutical Importing Companies Owners, Karim Jabara, told LBCI that the companies are unable to bear the large difference between the dollar price on the black market and the dollar price approved in the Ministry of Health index because this incurs huge losses and leads to a lack of capital necessary to continue importing medicines.

Jabara added that companies have not entirely stopped delivering medicines because there is no official decision to do so. What is happening is that each company adopts its policy in terms of delivery.
 
This is at a time when the Minister of Health, Firas Abyad, confirmed to LBCI that the ministry issued an index for drug prices last Monday, adding that it publishes an index once a week. Still, due to the significant rise in the dollar exchange rate, the ministry will issue a new index on Thursday morning to ensure that the drug reaches citizens.
 
Abyad stressed that issuing a new index is a partial solution to the medical problem, which requires financial and economic stability.