Minster of Health: Infant milk sufficient up to 7 months

CAIRO – 26 December 2017: The strategic reserve of infant milk is sufficient for seven months, Minister of Health and Population Ahmed Emad Al Din Rady declared on Tuesday afternoon during his regular meeting to discuss the future of the baby milk crisis.

The Egyptian Pharmaceutical Trading Company also has strategic reserves available for two month. The National Service, affiliated with the Ministry of Defense, would also subsidize infant milk for two months with the same kinds of milk and same prices that were contracted last year, Rady further explained.

He issued a ministerial decision to establish a committee for examining and inspecting the Lacto Misr company, which manufactures infant milk, after many complaints were raised against it.

“We need to depend on Lacto Misr company,” Rady affirmed.

If the committee approves the quality of milk, production lines, laboratories and industrial environment, we will depend on it, he further explained.

The ministry is going to discuss the report of this committee today, which will determine the possibility of getting benefits from Lacto Misr and whether it has the ability to cover all of Egypt’s needs or not.

“I encourage local industry; however, the effectiveness and efficiency of milk production is the most important thing,” Rady confirmed.

Furthermore, Egypt consumes 900,000 packs of Formula 1 per month and 500,000 packs of Formula 2 per month.

Since 2016, Egypt has been facing a shortage of infant milk, and dozens of mothers had protested against the shortage of subsidized infant milk, which is primarily imported by the Egyptian Pharmaceutical Trading Company in Cairo.

The reason behind the crisis is the fact that some companies monopolized the importation of infant milk, which caused a price hike, according to a statement released by the spokesman of the armed forces, Mohamed Samir.