Region | Iraq
Iraq health ministry to enforce drug laws
Amid the cacophony of Baghdad's Bab Sharaji market, Yasir Mazen has peddled counterfeit Viagra and other pills, gels and creams promising cures for ailments ranging from sexual dysfunction to bad skin.
- Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service
- Published: 23:12 September 5, 2008
- A pharmacist checks his well-stocked shelves in Baghdad.
- Image Credit: Sa'ad Khalaf/Los Angeles Times
Baghdad: Amid the cacophony of Baghdad's Bab Sharaji market, Yasir Mazen has peddled counterfeit Viagra and other pills, gels and creams promising cures for ailments ranging from sexual dysfunction to bad skin.
It has been a thriving business. "They always come back to buy more," the 20-year-old said of his customers.
But Mazen, as well as sellers of legitimate medications, are likely to find it much harder to get hold of goods to hawk these days. Monday was the deadline the Ministry of Health set for enforcing drug laws that largely had been ignored since the ousting of Saddam Hussain in 2003.
Although the laws remained in effect, the invasion and its aftermath led to a vacuum in enforcement, while newly-opened borders brought counterfeit goods flooding into the country.
The government said the deadline was part of an effort to bring Iraq in line with international norms and clean up the burgeoning trade in fake drugs. There are two state-run pharmaceutical factories in Iraq, so 90 per cent of the medications used here are imported. Nearly all are made by companies not registered in Iraq and are sold without being tested for efficacy.
'It's not medicine'
"It's not medicine. It's just boxes, and God knows what's in them," said Adel Mohsin, the Health Ministry's inspector general.
The laws require each drug manufacturer sending products to Iraq to get a stamp of approval from the Health Ministry. Under the stepped-up enforcement, a sample of each imported drug is to be tested for efficacy and approved before going on the market. Teams of inspectors will do spot checks of pharmacies and drug warehouses and step up raids on markets where counterfeit dealers operate.
Mohsin said the need for drug regulation was underscored by a test his ministry did recently: It collected 100 samples of medications from various pharmacies and tested them to see if they contained the ingredients needed to be 100 per cent effective.
"All the samples failed," said Mohsin, adding that people would be better going without than relying on supplies that are not proved safe or might have expired.
He said drugs with FDA approval in the US or those approved for sale in Europe or the UAE would sail through testing without problems. It's the knock-offs, and the "phantom" or illegal pharmacies selling them that will have problems, he said.
Pharmacists and the owners of drug warehouses that supply them say the government's initiative is noble, but sure to cause chaos and shortages in a country lacking the infrastructure for enforcement.
"I support this law 100 per cent, but I know it will cause shortages," said Omar Hussain, a pharmacist, who noted that a single laboratory was to be used for testing.
"The fact is, the Health Ministry doesn't have enough drugs even in hospitals. How will it fill the vacuum?" said Jasem Mohammad, a drug warehouse owner who says it can take several months for officials to license a drug importer and approve the medications.
Popular knock-offs
Mohammad's warehouse in west Baghdad is lined with floor-to-ceiling shelves holding colourful pills, tiny white boxes and amber bottles of syrups. Much of it comes from manufacturers in India, China and other countries that provide low-cost and popular knock-offs. Most of the goods are legitimate, he insisted.
Mohsin disagrees. He recently bought an Indian-made version of his ulcer medication for 75 cents when he could not get his hands on the expensive US-made drug he usually takes. "It didn't work on my ulcer," he said.
"The situation is ridiculous. We don't know what to do," said Mohi Deen, a pharmacist. "They gave us the terms and regulations, but where are the solutions to meet them?"
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