KABUL (SW) – Officials at the National Food and Drug Authority say that Afghans spend one billion dollars every year to treat their diseases and buy medicines.
Officials at the National Food and Drug Authority made these statements during the opening of an exhibition of domestic medicine products in Kabul on Tuesday. Abdulbari Umar, the director of this agency, said during his speech that the use of drugs in Afghanistan is high among the countries of the region, and according to him, the reason for this is poor quality drugs and smuggling in the country.
He said: “Why should 40 million people spend a billion dollars on medicine? If we think about the neighboring countries, then their population of 150 to 200 million spend only 600 to 800 million dollars on medicine every year, why ours is 1 billion dollars.”
Officials at the exhibition said that currently 62 factories in the country are working in the field of medicine production, which produce about 810 units of medicine. Pharmaceutical manufacturing companies said that if drug smuggling is not stopped in the country, pharmaceutical factories will face bankruptcy.
Sayed Noor Pasha, the representative of Afghanistan’s pharmaceutical industry union, said: “If this situation and the smuggling of low-quality drugs continue, not only will the drug production factories not increase in the country, but the ones that are active now will be closed down one by one.” »
Medicine manufacturers also insist that people should use domestic medicines produced in the country and they want the government to stop the import of medicines that are produced domestically.
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