PALMYRA, Syria (North Press) – Faisal al-Nayif, a pharmacist residing in Palmyra, in the middle of the Syrian Desert, was forced to accept Iranian medicines in his pharmacy due to the lack of some Syrian varieties and the high prices of others. However, the residents’ distrust of the Iranian medicines decreased the demand for them.
Al-Nayif expressed his discontent, as the selling is limited to cosmetics due to the lack of the demand for Iranian medicines amid high prices of the Syrian ones, if they are available.
He now regrets that, despite having an academic degree in pharmaceuticals, he depends on the sales of cosmetics to sustain him.
On June 17, the Syrian Ministry of Health raised the price of 12,000 types of medicine by 50%.
Expensive local varieties
Whenever Syrian government forces and their affiliated factions launch security campaigns against ISIS sleeper cells in the vicinity of Palmyra, the prices of basic materials increase in the city and its countryside.
This is due to the high costs of obtaining medicine from Damascus and the major towns as a result of the risks the campaigns pose to trucks and goods.
ISIS sleeper cells move freely in the desert near Palmyra, taking advantage of the predominantly desert area.
Issam al-Ahmed, a pharmacist in Palmyra, attributed the fear of warehouse owners in Homs of sending medicine shipments to Palmyra to the risks of the vehicles being targeted or robbed on the desert roads that link Palmyra with major towns.
“The reason behind the high prices of medicine in Palmyra is high transportation costs, in addition to the government increase of prices, and the reluctance of many major medical warehouses to send medicines due to the risks on the roads,” he added.
A fee of 150,000 Syrian pounds (SYP) is added to the costs of each shipment from Homs to Palmyra normally, “which increases the prices of goods in general.”
Unreliable Iranian alternatives
Pharmacists in Palmyra depend on Iranian medicines as an alternative to the Syrian types to cover the needs of patients in the current situation.
However, Yasser Abdulrahim, a resident of Palmyra, asks his friends to bring diabetes medication for his mother from Homs when they go there, because he does not trust the Iranian medicine.
He fears that the medicine may be expired, has undergone repackaging, or has side effects that he is not familiar with.
Palmyra resident Khadija al-Rajab bought Syrian-made children’s medicine three months ago and stored it, in anticipation of being lost from the market.
She added that posts on social media claimed that Iranian medicines can cause dangerous complications.
Pharmacists say that the Iranian medicines do not pass through customs checks unlike the raw materials imported by Syrian pharmaceutical companies, which causes a difference in their prices in pharmacies.
Al-Nayif said that he depends on “Iranian types, as they are currently cheaper than the Syrian ones.”
Syrian-made headache medicine amounts to 3,500 SYP, while the Iranian type is only 500 SYP.
“However, residents of Palmyra and its countryside do not trust Iranian medicine because of its sudden spread in the markets, unfamiliarity with it, and their fear that it will have side effects that they do not know,” according to al-Nayif.
“In addition, the leaflet attached to the Iranian medicine is in Persian and English, which prevents patients and their families from understanding the properties of the medicine, warnings, and instructions for usage,” he noted.