Health ministry cracks down on black-market medicines

The Iraqi Ministry of Health, in response to a reported rise in the sale of drugs on the black market, has launched a campaign to prevent the entry of illegal medicines into the country and halt the sale of expired pharmaceuticals. “We have seen an increase in different kinds of drugs in the nation’s pharmacies, and most haven’t been checked for their side-effects and quality,” Ahmed Sarawi, a senior official at the Ministry of Health, said on Monday. According to Sarawi, inspectors from the ministry have found dealers selling expired medicines on the streets of the capital Baghdad, having falsified their expiration dates. “We analysed a sample and found it had expired two years ago,” Sarawi explained. “According to our information, many Iraqis have bought the drug from the same source.” During the Saddam-Hussein era, strict regulations governed the introduction of drugs into the country and there subsequent sale. All medicines had to be tested by the health ministry, which had to fully approve them before they could be sold by pharmacies. Stiff penalties were doled out to those found to be flouting the law. The new campaign aims to regulate the sale of drugs and arrest anyone involved in dealing illicit or expired drugs. Lt-Col Abbas al-Khouri, chief inspector at the Ministry of Interior, said several people had been apprehended in connection with the sale of expired drugs on the streets of Baghdad. “Iraqis should help us by refusing to buy drugs from unknown sources just because they are cheaper,” al-Khouri appealed. Walking through Baghdad’s Bab Shorj district, youths can be seen peddling illegal medicines, often advertising them as remedies for ailments for which they are not intended. “It’s a good medicine for a headache, and it’s very cheap,” said one teenager, hawking his wares. When an IRIN reporter asked for a closer look at the medicine, however, it was found to be Atenolol, generally prescribed to sufferers of hypertension. Despite being advised against it, one local woman bought the drug anyway. “I tried it before and it works,” she said. “Besides, it’s half the price of what they have at the pharmacy.” Pharmacists in the capital agreed that there had been a recent increase in the entrance of illegal drugs into the country, which had found a ready market due to their lower prices. “I check the medicine first, and if it’s all right, I buy it,” said Dr Muthana Ibrahim, a pharmacist in the Mansour district. “On the black market, you can find it for less than the half of the price.” The health ministry, however, has declared that any pharmacists found selling or buying unregulated medicines would be seriously punished. According to ministry sources, 18 people have died so far this year from the use of expired drugs, while at least another 150 cases of drug poisoning have been reported. “People are dying and suffering from the side-effects of drugs entering the country illegally,” said Sarawi, vowing, “We will work hard to end this practice.”