Tuesday 30 December 2025 – 11:19 AM
Representative Khaled Tantawi, member House of Representatives With a question to Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, Prime Minister, and Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health and Population, about the medicine crisis and the shortage of some vital items, with the continuous rises in the prices of many medicines, pointing out that patients, especially those with chronic diseases, suffer from a severe shortage of many medicines, which forces them to resort to the black market at double prices, in flagrant violation of the citizen’s right to treatment.
The continuing medicine crisis and shortage of vital items
Tantawi asked: What are the reasons for the worsening drug crisis? Why did pharmaceutical policies fail to ensure the availability of vital medicines despite repeated warnings? Demanding support for national pharmaceutical companies, providing the currency necessary to import raw materials, reconsidering drug pricing in a way that achieves a balance between the product and the patient, and creating a strategic stock of critical medicines sufficient for at least 6 months, while tightening control over distribution chains to prevent storage and smuggling, and transparently announcing deficiencies and plans to compensate for them.
Representative Khaled Tantawi said: Medicine is a matter of life and death, and any inaction in this issue is considered a waste of the lives of citizens. We cannot be called upon to formulate new plans and policies that guarantee the implementation of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s mandates, not only in providing drug security, but in transforming Egypt into a major regional center in the world of pharmaceutical industries, especially since Egypt, under President El-Sisi, now possesses all the natural and human capabilities to achieve this goal.
