The parliamentary health committee on Tuesday approved “subject to conditions” the authorization of the emergency importation of drugs – a procedure that raises fears about the quality of drugs imported in the future and their origin, while Lebanon is going through a deep crisis.
The country suffers from serious shortages of drugs, medical equipment but also fuel oil needed for generators, which hinders the functioning of the health system and endangers its very survival. “The situation now threatens the health of the Lebanese people”, ruled the chairman of the commission, deputy Assem Araji, deploring that treatments for chronic and cancerous diseases are now absent from the market.
“We accept the urgent importation of drugs, depending on market needs of course and on condition that the quality of the products is approved in their country of origin and validated by the World Health Organization,” said Mr. Araji. In this case, there is no problem to import drugs urgently “if it helps to alleviate the crisis”, he said.
Last month, the Ministry of Health said it had “opened the door” to the urgent importation and rapid registration of all kinds of drugs that cannot be found on the market, with the prior approval of the ministry. , “while preserving the quality of imported products”.
A large part of the drugs is currently not found in pharmacies because of a new mechanism imposed by the Bank of Lebanon and supposing a prior agreement before any importation of subsidized products. The Banque du Liban, whose foreign currencies are rapidly melting, is reluctant to grant pre-approvals for imports. In this context, Mr. Araji proposed to allocate 400 million dollars for imports of medicines and to draw them from the 860 million dollars in the form of allocations of special drawing rights (SDRs), allocated to Lebanon by the Fund. international monetary policy (IMF).
–
The parliamentary health committee on Tuesday approved “under conditions” the authorization of the emergency importation of drugs – a procedure that raises fears about the quality of drugs imported in the future and their origin, while Lebanon is going through a deep crisis and the country is suffering from serious shortages of drugs, medical equipment and …
