Projected hike in the price of 1500 pharmaceuticals in Algeria!

The heads of several pharmaceutical factories in Algeria have complained to the Ministry of Health, Population and Hospital Reform about the latter’s failure to authorize the renewal upward of the prices of vital medicines produced domestically, whose number is estimated at 1500.

The price of these locally-produced medicines hasn’t evolved over the past 15 years, they argued, adding that they are now witnessing biting losses because of the increase in raw material, electricity and fuel  prices at a time when the Algerian currency, the Dinar, has drastically slumped versus the Euro and the Dollar.

Concurrently, the president of the National Union of Pharmacists (SNAPO), Mr Messaoud Belambri, said it is necessary to take over all “incentives” to encourage local production of medicines.

The state “encourages investment in the pharmaceutical industry which currently cover 50% of national needs and ensure social protection for up to 99% by social insurance funds,” said M. Belambri in a statement to Echorouk.

He called, in this sense, on the relevant authorities to “accompany those concerned through offering new incentives in favor of pharmacists in a bid to shore up local production of pharmaceuticals.”

The director of the pharmacy and medical equipment at the Ministry of Health, Population and Hospital Reform, Hamou Hafed, meanwhile, recalled that local production had “increased fivefold over the past decade thanks to the efforts of both the public and private health sector. “

He further noted a “decline of 7% of the country’s import bill in 2015” attributing this decline to the “rise of local production, lower tariffs and the prohibition of importing 117 medicines locally produced locally “.

It should be noted that the Minister of Health, Population and Hospital Reform, Abdelmalek Boudiaf, set up a few months ago a list of more than 350 pharmaceutical factories in Algeria which have been banned from import activities.

Algeria’s Imports of pharmaceutical products increased to 30,14 %, i.e. USD 267,96 million in January and February 2016 against USD 205,9 million in January-February 2015, Customs services announced on Monday.

Imported quantities experienced a slight decrease (-0,92%) from 3.488,86 tons against 3.521,11 tons, the Customs’ National Center of Informatics and Statistics (CNIS).

Drugs for human use, which represented 92 % of the pharmaceutical products import bill in last January-February, widened in value and decreased in volume.

Veterinary drugs and para-pharmaceutical products have significantly increased in value and volume.