Life-saving medicines in short supply in Sudan

The Sudan pharmaceutical sector reports a severe scarcity of asthma and allergy medicines, especially anti-seizure medication phenytoin, which costs SDG 1,000 ($20*) for 2mg, as well as a lack of life-saving immunoglobulin where the cost of one injection exceeds SDG 1,700 (*$36).

The sources said that the companies have stopped importing and meeting the orders of pharmacies until the issuance of a decision to determine the exchange rate for the medicines and their indicative prices.

As reported earlier this month by Radio Dabanga, pharmacies in the Sudanese capital Khartoum as well as the other states are witnessing lack of many types of medicines amid rising prices.

Dr Nasri Margas, the former head of the private pharmacies department, attributed the lack of medicines to pharmacies halting importation and sales due the rise in price of the Dollar.

He explained that most of the types of drugs are not available in pharmacies and companies, pointing out that the prices of medicine have increased by 300 percent during the past months.

The chamber of medicine importers demanded fixing of the exchange rate of the Dollar for the import of medicines and formation of a government mechanism to ensure its stability at SDG 47.5 according to the advertised price, while the Ministry of Health called on the chamber of importers of medicines to endure the rise in the price of the Dollar so as to guarantee the provision of medicines at affordable price.

* All currency conversions are based on the daily US Dollar rate quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS)