Lebanon is seeing considerable activity in the field of illegal drug trafficking, which takes place in full view of the officials concerned, without directing control of the market or stopping some of the traders and those involved in this file. From drug bags to the marketing of drug-dealing sites to the smuggling of subsidized drugs and then selling them on the black market, “black trade” happens in plain sight without concern for the health of citizens.
These medicines, considered a salvation for the patient, have been transformed, due to the economic crisis, the greed of the merchants and the mafias, into a poison that kills the patient’s body, and he finds no one to fight against it, neither from inside or outside the institutions concerned, but rather the interested party “colludes” with the mafia to remove it from responsibility. Instead of carrying out their duties with diligence and professionalism, we see those concerned announcing the dates of the inspection patrols to the public, so that any corrupt person evades responsibility.
Professor Fadi Nasr, a specialist in hematology and oncology, confirms to An-Nahar that “about 25-50 percent of immunotherapy drugs to treat cancer are counterfeit and wrong, and are given in sweat, which allows us to examine them before giving them to the patient in the hospital As a result of the drug crisis and aftermath It has problems and alternatives, which are sometimes unhealthy, counterfeit or out of date.
He adds that “the source of these counterfeit medicines is very often Turkey and Syria. Medical and laboratory tests and reviews have revealed to us that some of these medicines were not identical to the main medicine, and were either counterfeit or tampered with, or a metaphor for salt and water, which prompted us to conduct company reviews and audits.” mother before giving it to the patient in the hospital.
For his part, the head of the “Barbara Nassar Association for Supporting Cancer Patients”, Hani Nassar, explains that the trade and smuggling of counterfeit or subsidized medicines from certain countries and their resale on the black market will remain active as a result of the inability to guarantee the necessary amount for all patients, and today it is sufficient for about 60 percent of them.
The seriousness of the matter is evident in the entry of individuals from the pharmaceutical sector into the corruption ring, as some sell medicine to the patient at double its official price in order to obtain greater profits. One of the patients informed me that she had bought a box of medicines at the pharmacy for £900,000, noting that her price did not exceed £180,000; The reason that prompted her to pay the known is the need for her despite the exploitation that is taking place today.
On the other hand, Professor Nasr states that “counterfeit medicines bring negative and side effects on the patient’s health. But if the patient does not take the medicine, the disease develops rapidly and dangerously. medicine in a legal way that prevents the patient from putting their health at risk”, underlining that “The most counterfeit type of medicine is immunotherapy, which is very expensive and essential in treatment protocols”.
What Nasr is talking about is shared by the head of the Pharmacists Union, Joe Salloum. In his view, “most smuggled medicines are counterfeit, expired or stored incorrectly, and therefore the story is not that these medicines are ineffective, but rather the matter is more serious than that, because they can affect the health of the patient For example, counterfeit cancer drugs or A metaphor of salt and water affect the development and course of the tumor, and this prompted us to launch a pharmaceutical inspection campaign in cooperation with the Ministry of Health.
Salloum points out that “pharmacies only sell genuine, authentic medicines at the official price, but today searches are underway in illegal dispensaries, shops, black market and online sites that aim to promote the trade in contraband medicines. We need to know that behind the trade in counterfeit medicines are networks considered the most dangerous in the world.” .
Salloum points out that “Turkish medicine is the biggest star of recent times, in addition to the medicines derived from it Iran, Turkey, Syria, India.. This counterfeit concerns various medicines and the anticancer drug remains the main one due to its high cost”. Central. It is useless for some large hospitals to try to control these drugs through their laboratories and coordinate with the parent company, because these efforts remain limited to the framework of special cases, while what is needed is a national treatment for the issue.
Today we are facing more than one crisis, the first of which is a crisis of confidence in the state and in traders who trade in people’s lives, and do not supply counterfeit and expired medicines, at a time when we can’t find anyone to move to stop a trader or hold one of the brokers accountable because of what they are doing with patients lives. Therefore, the desperate patient tries to resort to drugs from the smuggled market, because he has lost hope in everything related to power today.
And as long as corruption files are still sleeping in judges’ drawers, including Mona Baalbaki’s file, people’s souls will hang in the air indefinitely!
