Contraband drugs comprise50% of local market, study says [Archives:2006/947/Front Page]
Adel Al-Khawlani
SANA'A, May 16 ) A field study on the “Hazards of Smuggled Drugs” disclosed that the Yemeni medical drug market is flooded with contraband with nearly 50 percent of the market made-up of smuggled drugs entering the country through the Red Sea littoral. The findings were made public at a workshop held at Sana'a University this week
According to the study, conducted by Dr. Ali Al-Dowa, sales manager at Al-Ra'afa Drug Foundation, most of the trafficked drugs and medical equipment originate from India and China and pass through the Horn of Africa into Yemen. In an interview with the Yemen Times, Al-Dowa noted that illegal drug traffickers exploit indifference on the part of the concerned governmental bodies to take kickbacks at the expense of health of the Yemeni people. “They commit crimes against humanity,” he commented.
The study argues that large quantities of smuggled drugs are past their expiration date and are shipped by carriers that overlook international specifications and standards for drug storage shipboard. As a result, “these drugs are ineffective and expose the lives of Yemeni people, who prefer them for their low prices, to risk,” the researcher stated.
Al-Dowa said the past two years saw an increasing percentage of smuggled drugs in circulation since the Yemeni market has favored the contraband due to their lower cost.
The study criticized the relevant government authorities' indifference and negligence as they fail to exercise control over black-market drugs entering the Yemeni market. The study points out that it is impossible to find official tallies on the quantities of black-market medicine extant. Al-Dowa explained most of the contraband passes through Djibouti for transit before arriving Yemen.
“Those medicines are being stored in miserable and unhealthy climates and environments, so they lose effectiveness at least, or become very poisonous,” the study observes.
Dr. Abdu Shetiwa, a medical expert, attributed the phenomenon to lax procedures at customs offices. He observed that customs checkpoints tend to fine traffickers trivial sums and fail to initiate criminal procedures against them.
He went on to say that the lack of some indispensable drugs on the formal Yemeni market encourages simple traders to form a “medicine mafia” that colludes with East Asian companies to fabricate imitations of quality-trademarked drugs.
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Abdulkhaleq Al-Kumaim, a businessman running four drugstores in Sana'a, observed that smuggled drugs carrying Indian and Chinese trademarks)including contraceptives and other medical items related to reproductive health) are in high demand because of their affordable prices. He added that only 10 percent of clients can afford to purchase drugs manufactured in Western countries like Germany, England, Ireland, Switzerland or the U.S. as the leading pharmaceutical companies copyright their products and charge monopoly prices for their products. The result of this system, coupled with import duties that the government assesses, causes Yemeni medicine importers to pay double the cost of popular imitations produced elsewhere.
Drug pricelists approved by the High Drug Authority at the Ministry of Public Health and Population facilitated the contraband medicine phenomenon to grow for the past twenty years as the black-market prices tended to be lower than the official list, according to Al-Kumaim.
Health-related violations are on the rise in Yemen due to lack of medical awareness in society as well as poor monitoring practices on the part of government authorities. In addition to the spread of the presence of expired drugs on the market, the nation endures another trend: the establishment of clinics, pharmacies and other medical facilities contrary to official health standards and codes.
Yet, the government has taken some action to improve the health situation in the country. Recently, the Sana'a governorate's Public Health and Population Office closed twelve medical establishments, including clinics and pharmacies, for violating health standards and codes. The office confirmed that 9,000 parcels of black-market imitations of drugs were discovered in capital hotels in past few months.
Realizing the negative consequences of taking spoiled medicine, security authorities have made several arrests of drug vendors on the streets of the capital. In addition, investigations have begun into locating the parties supplying the vendors.
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