Parliament prioritizes draft law to establish ‘Egyptian Drug Authority'

CAIRO – 24 August 2018: MP Abdel Aziz Hamouda said that discussing a draft law to establish an “Egyptian Drug Authority” is a top priority to the Parliament’s health committee.

In an interview with Al-Shorouk, Hamouda underscored the importance of establishing the EDA to achieve goals including the sustainable supply of medicine and the combat of drug monopoly.

MP Sherif al-Werdani said that a number of Parliamentarian committees are responsible for issuing the draft law as it is strongly tied to one of the most significant rights of Egyptian people.

For his part, Ayman Aboul Ela, deputy head of the Parliament’s Health Committee, called for tightening the punishment for drug adulteration.

Ali Ouf, an Egyptian official in the Egyptian Union of Chambers of Commerce, called for raising the drug adulteration to death penalty or life imprisonment earlier in August, adding that some TV ads promote harmful and poisonous drugs.

In an interview with eXtra news, Sabry Al-Taweelah, a Pharmacists Syndicate official, said that there are some organizations that are specialized in the field of drug adulteration. He added that such companies widely circulate some expensive medicines that are rarely available in the market.

Taweelah said that East Asia countries export such drugs to Arab countries, adding that these countries are keen on passing the drugs through European countries before it is received by Arab states.

According to reports by the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), over 1.2 million people worldwide die every year because of the adulterated drugs.

The adulterated drugs are defined as any drugs found to contain an adulterant or substituted substance. Drugs found to be contaminated with dirt are rendered harmful to health and also deemed as adulterated drugs.

Ouf revealed earlier in July that 500,000 medicine packs were withdrawn from outlets as they contain Valsartan, which was found to cause cancer, according to Ouf.