On Tuesday, the Health Ministry decided to link the prices of medications sold locally to those in Europe, the Gulf and Canada and formed a government committee to examine prices.
The ministry denied on Thursday that it has devised a whole new system for pricing medication and said in a statement that the new decision only modified an earlier one from 2009.
The 2009 decision was challenged by several NGOs before a State Council Administrative Court, which halted its application in April 2010. The government appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court, which on May 2011 reversed the lower court’s ruling and cleared the way for the decision to take effect.
The 2009 decision stipulated that prices will be compared with those in 36 countries and medications will be sold locally at 10 percent less than the lowest price found abroad.
Soaad Hamouda, Pharmacists Syndicate head in Ismailia, said during a phone interview with state television on Friday that the controversial 2009 decision was never applied, adding that the new decision will cause medication prices to soar.
Al-Shorouk newspaper reported Thursday that prices, according to the new decision, will be compared with those in 36 countries and medications will be sold locally at 35 percent less than the lowest price found abroad.
Under the old pricing system, which was set in a 1991 decree, medication prices are based on the cost of production, regardless of prices abroad.
The Health Ministry's decision to tie medication pricing to international prices has sparked a feud between the doctors and pharmacists syndicates.
While the Pharmacists Syndicate described the decision as historic, the Doctors Syndicate said it will harm patients who cannot afford price increases.
Mohsen Abdel Alim, head of the central department for pharmacists’ affairs at the Health Ministry, said the decision is only an amendment of an older one, intended to achieve the interest of poor patients.
He added that the ministry will hold a meeting with representatives of a number of NGOs which reject the decision.
Meanwhile, Mohamed Abdel Gawwad, Pharmacists Syndicate Chief, said the decision is historic in light of the current economic condition in the country.
Ahmed Oqeil, secretary general of the syndicate, said the decision solves problems related to the importer's profit margin.
However, Khairy Abdel Dayem, Doctors Syndicate Chief, said the decision increases the profit margin for pharmaceutical companies at the expense of patients, and he called for canceling it.
Abdel Fattah Rezq, secretary general of the syndicate, said the syndicate rejects the decision and said medications are a strategic commodity and an issue of national security.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
