Health Board to grant medicines’ authorization in Syria’s Autonomous Administration areas
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – On Thursday, the co-chair of the Health Board of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), Jiwan Mustafa, said, “the decision to grant private authorization for medicines’ labs, is under discussion.
“The draft decision will be either approved or not before the end of March,” Mustafa told North Press.
North Press obtained a copy of a statement issued by Pharmacists Union in Qamishli proposing the adoption of the private authorization law.
The private authorization law depends on naming a single agent for each type of medicines available in the regions of northeast Syria by the medicines labs located in Damascus and Aleppo.
Local specialists spoke about the importance of this decision in terms of reducing the prices of medicines and not losing them frequently.
Other specialists believed that the main problem in the shortage of medicines and their high prices comes from the medicines labs in Damascus and Aleppo.
Last year, the AANES Health Board set 28% as shipping fees for medicines, after it ranged between 10 and 15%, in addition to 25% as a profit margin for pharmacies.
“The increase percentage added to the cost of the medicines which is 28%, will remain constant,” Mustafa stated.
He denied “future plans to raise this percentage but vice versa.”