CAIRO: The Ministry of Health, in association with the Pharmacists' Syndicate, has announced that the People's Assembly will be discussing amendments to a law combating illegal drugs in Egypt next April. Abdel Rahman Shahin, the Health Ministry's official spokesperson, told Daily News Egypt that the current law has been in place since 1964, when the total number of pharmaceutical factories was only 10. Now, he said, they are 70 and the number of pharmacies went up from 5,000 in 1964 to 33,000 today. Dr Farid Ismail, MP and member of the Pharmacists' Syndicate, told Daily News Egypt that as a member of the People's Assembly's health committee, he was personally involved in drafting amendments pertaining to illegal medicines, which, he says will "tighten supervision over all pharmacies. "It will also increase penalties on pharmacists who sell illegal drugs [drugs that are not certified by the health ministry], Ismail said. "According to the proposed law, if it is proven that someone has died as a result of using an illegal drug, the pharmacist who sold him the drug will serve a life sentence and the ministry will shut the offending pharmacy, he explained. Furthermore, the law will introduce specialized companies to be in charge of distributing medicines to replace the current storage centers "where serious violations reportedly take place. Shahin had announced on Saturday, during a conference on the fake drug industry in Egypt, that fake and smuggled drugs are valued at about LE 1 billion, about 10 percent of the overall value of the pharmaceutical industry in Egypt. "The presence of such illegal drugs also damages our economy, Shahin said, explaining that the illegal drug business has increased dramatically because of its high profit margin. Shahin said that in May, the ministry will activate a ministerial decree prohibiting the distribution of any officially uncertified medicines. Shahin said that the Ministry of Health's pharmacies division will conduct random spot checks on pharmacies to crack down on the distribution and purchase of illegal drugs. Pharmacies engaged in this illegal practice will be shut down immediately.
