Dozens of hepatitis sufferers covered by the state health insurance system staged a demonstration outside the State Council building in Cairo on Tuesday to protest a recent decision by the Minister of Health stipulating that hepatitis patients only receive coverage for treatment with the locally-produced drug Interferon. The protest coincided with deliberations by the Administrative Court of a lawsuit filed by the patients. The patients' defense team has requested that the court issue a warrant giving it the right to obtain an official copy of the locally-produced drug's registration license, which would reveal both the nature of the research associated with the drug and the drug's success rate. Protesters described the minister's decision as unconstitutional, pointing out that the national charter guaranteed equality to all citizens. They also noted that hepatitis patients receiving treatment at the expense of the state were being treated with imported--rather than locally-produced--Interferon. The locally-manufactured version of the drug is only 25 percent effective, protesters claim, whereas its imported counterpart boasts an efficacy rate of 63 percent. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
