Egyptian Health Ministry Launches Safe Medicines Campaign

On Sunday October 17th, the Egyptian Ministry of Health announced a new campaign entitled "Your Source of Cure Guarantees Treatment," aiming to address counterfeit and contraband drug use and smuggling.

Kamal Sabra, assistant to the Health Minister for Pharmacology Affairs, said a consumers now have access to a reporting hotline for unregistered drugs.  He also said that research has shown that 65% of consumers don't know that some drugs are smuggled, and even more didn't know that these smuggled drugs were unregulated, reported Al-Masry Al-Youm.

Ashraf Bayoumy, head of the Central Committee for Pharmacology Affairs, said 1,000 inspectors had been appointed to inspect the state’s 45,000 pharmacies.

The Ministry's goal is to increase the number of inspectors to 2,000 and has formed a counterfeit drug squad composed of representatives from the Ministries of Justice, Interior and Customs.