To Whom It May Concern,
Fake medicines, as is known, resulted in the death of seven children in Egypt in the last month. According to available sources including Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, several children died as a result of mistakenly given fake ceftriaxone, an antibiotic that is used to treat bacterial infections, in Egypt. In one case, a child aged two years with a high temperature died after being injected with counterfeit drugs by hospital doctors. The positive side is that the concerned Egyptian authorities in the city of Kafr Ziyat carried out a raid on a factory that produces counterfeit antibiotics. But it remains unclear whether it is possible to bring the production and selling of fake medicines in Egypt to a halt.
Notably, the production and selling of fake medicines, which are made by decreasing the active ingredients in drugs or completely faking them, is common in Egypt. A few months ago, counterfeit medicines were found in several provinces of the country. Around $160 million worth of fake medicines have been seized in pharmacies, warehouses and factories in November alone. Of the total number of drugs in the market, around thirty percent were also found counterfeit in 2015. In 2017, the concerned authorities declared that they had discovered thousands of packages of counterfeit hepatitis C medicine in Egypt. Moreover, the prevalence of counterfeit drugs has even extended to several important medications that are used to treat diseases including cancer, liver inflammation, allergies, diabetes and tumors.
Several legal, regulatory based and other causes are responsible for the manufacturing and availability of counterfeit drugs in Egypt. A lack of strong penalization measures is one of the important causes. Egypt has no central drug commission or strong laws needed for penalizing the production of counterfeit drugs. The availability of drug manufacturing machines to unauthorized manufacturers due to a lack of restrictions on the importation of pharmaceutical-making machinery also plays an important role. Also, a lack of coordination and communications among concerned authorities, inadequate supervision and monitoring, the relaxed application of laws, decision makers’ indifference to the problem of counterfeit drugs and irresponsibleness among drug producers are responsible for counterfeit drugs that lead to deaths and illnesses.
Measures are definitely taken by Egyptian authorities against counterfeit medicines. Along with raids, punishments are given. Notably, Egyptian prosecutors ordered the continued detention of a pharmacist in October last year over the deaths of two girls she treated with antibiotic injections. Bringing those who are responsible for the death of the children to justice with deserving penalties is imperative. But without strict legal measures, it is difficult to end the production and selling of counterfeit drugs. The emphasis needs to be given to regulatory measures with improved monitoring mechanisms for desired outcomes. Also, other causes behind the production and selling of counterfeit medicines need to be addressed.
Amir M Sayem
Chief Editor
Dhaka Opinion Magazine
