Flu medication costs half government employee’s salary in Damascus
DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – Hassan Derwan, head of Syrian Pharmacists Syndicate, said on Tuesday drugs needed to recover from flu cost 50 thousand Syrian Pounds (SYP, $7.46), which equals half the Syrian government employee’s salary.
Derwan told the pro-government al-Watan newspaper that the price of heart pressure medications has reached 30 thousand SYP ($4.47), and inflammation drugs are priced between 10 and 14 thousand SYP ($1.50-2) after the latest surge in prices.
It is worth mentioning that the average salary of a government employee is 100 thousand SYP (about $ 14.92).
On January 17, the Syrian Ministry of Health announced a new rise in locally made drug prices by 80 percent.
Two days before the rise, Derwan told the newspaper that the costs of manufacturing every type of drug are calculated accurately in order to issue “a fair pricing for the pharmaceutical factories and the citizens. Therefore every drug will be priced according to the cost of its production.”
Contradicting his own words, the head of the Pharmacists Syndicate in Damascus said that the price of flu drugs after the latest increase “has become too expensive for citizens, and not to mention the costly medical consultations of doctors.”