DAMASCUS, ALEPPO, DARAA, Syria (North Press) – Mahir al-Shalabi, a man in his sixties, from Dwel’a in Damascus, sighs when asked about the current price of his live-saving heart medication.
Al-Shalabi, a retired government employee, needs 70.000 Syrian pounds (SYP, approximately $10) worth of medicine every month.
“My heart medication used to cost 5.800 SYP ($0.80), now it is up to 8.500 SYP ($1.20),” he told North Press.
He added, “I often wish to have a heart attack and die so I can rest, but I soon regret saying that and try to be grateful, because, no matter what happens, we must not despair in the face of Allah’s mercy.”
“Before increasing the prices, did the government not think if people were able to buy them?” he wonders, adding, “We are not all rich people.”
The increasing prices for medication negatively impacted patients, particularly chronic patients, who need a constant supply of life-saving medication.
On January 17, the Syrian Ministry of Health announced a new round price hikes, some as high as 80 percent, for thousands of medicines.
Muhammad Nabil al-Qasir, a council member of the Syrian Pharmacists Syndicate, told the pro-government al-Watan Newspaper that medicine prices have increased by 50 percent, and this includes most types of medicines.
“The increase in prices of other types of medicine is as high as 80 percent in some cases, including on 12.826 types of drugs,” al-Qasir added.
Salwa Hilal, 47, a government employee from al-Maza region, is in a similar situation. She used to spend 50.000 SYP ($8) on her diabetes medication. Now she spends 120.000 SYP ($18) as her current salary is 130.000 SYP ($19).
“I spend my entire salary on medications. If it were not for my son, we would not be able to live. My son provides a living for us. He no longer thinks of building a future for himself,” she added.
Sometimes, Hilal needs Insulin shots. “We used to buy foreign-made shots for 20.000 SYP [$3]. I do not know what the price is today,” she noted.
A pharmacist in Damascus who preferred to remain anonymous said, “It is not the pharmacists’ fault that the prices are raising. It is like running in a circle every time prices increase.”
“The pharmaceutical factories stop distributing medicine when the dollar’s value rises against the Syrian pound. The storehouses hoard the remaining medicine; pharmacies are out of popular drugs for a while, then a new price is set to please the factories’ owners,” the pharmacist added.
Medicine Prices Skyrocket
Prices of heart and diabetes drugs increased by almost 65 percent, and for inflammation shots they doubled.
Maen al-Muslamani, 40, from Daraa, a governorate south Syria, needs to purchase at least 15.000 SYP ($2) worth of daily heart and diabetes medicine after prices surged.
A week earlier, he needed to pay only 8.000 SYP ($1.20) for the same drugs. Prices, in real terms, have increased by 100 percent.
Al-Muslamani, who transports construction materials for a brick factory, said his daily wage is only 20.000 SYP ($3) – half of it is spent on medicine.
Ahmad al-Shanwan, 37, from Daraa, is forced to pay more than 40.000 SYP ($6) for his mother’s heart medication every day. A week ago, he used to buy them for 25.000 SYP ($4), sometimes less.
Al-Shanwan, who works as a taxi driver, borrowed $100 from a relative to buy medicine for his mother, which will last for two weeks.
Food or Medicine
Muhammad Barad’i, 72, might have taken his last heart medication pill. He did not find another box even after checking several pharmacies in al-Sukari neighborhood in Aleppo Governorate where he and his wife reside.
The elderly man was filled with joy when he found his medicine in one of the pharmacies, but glee turned to shock as he realized he would be unable to afford the new prices.
They soared from 10.000 SYP ($1.50) to 16.500 SYP ($2.50).
Barad’i needs two boxes of medicine every month. He used to work as a street vendor selling cakes in his neighborhood. He is too old to work now; high drug prices made matters worse.
“I do not have a job to provide for my family. My health condition is not helping, and the government has let us down when they increased medicine prices. This increase affects the poor more and will lead to a quicker death for us,” he protested.
Giyath Dib, 49, a government employee in al-Sha’ar neighborhood in Aleppo, is calculating the money he needs for his six-year-old daughter’s flu medication.
“I expect it will cost 51.000 SYP ($8). Most drugs have doubled, and my salary is 150.000 SYP ($22),” he told North Press.
He said every type of drug has doubled, noting that if they get sick, they will starve to death “because if we buy drugs, we cannot afford food to eat.”