Drug shortage in Egypt to be over within 3 months: health minister

CAIRO – 6 August 2024: Minister of Health and Population Khaled Abdel Ghaffar stated Tuesday in a press conference that the drug shortage would be over within three months and that a million insulin vials would be pumped in the market in the current month.

The minister, who is also the deputy prime minister for human development, highlighted that Egypt houses 170 factories that produce a total of four billion drug packages per year fulfilling 91 percent of local market needs of pharmaceuticals.

As for insulin in specific, Minister Abdel Ghaffar stated that 27 million insulin vials are consumed in Egypt annually, and that the state-owned Medical Union Pharmaceuticals' insulin plant produces alone 15 million vials and that its output can be upped to 18 million.

The minister underlined that the shortage occurred because of a foreign currency crisis that impeded the import of raw materials, and that the problem had been solved. In that context, he asserted that efforts had been underway to increase the local component in pharmaceuticals, especially those pertinent to chronic diseases.