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Patricia Jallad wrote in Call of the Fatherland:
The history of storage didn’t stop at this point. Rather, medicine took this path after people started invading pharmacies in an attempt to buy as many drugs as possible, fearing that their price would go up one side and lose them from the market. on the other hand, even if the gin is available at a lower price.
Coinciding with all those stages that accelerated in a year, smuggling was strongly active in all goods, especially subsidized goods, which we see through social networks on the shelves of food supplies abroad, and finally about 10 days ago the medicine arrived. Kinshasa, which is priced in Lebanese pounds.
Investigations began here to find out who had smuggled the drug or because of its presence abroad. According to the head of the Drug Importers Union, Karim Jabara, smuggling occurs, as he explained to Nidaa Al Watan, “through the crossings, especially the Rafik Hariri airport, and the control process is easy if the security forces they settle their issue and were beaten with an iron fist. “The seizure of some smugglers showed that some of them possess the subsidized drugs from pharmacies, but what about the rumors that the importer may have a role in smuggling?
In this context, Jabara explains that the Ministry of Health, “which is our benchmark in addition to the Judiciary of course”, has verified this matter and has found that the importer is selling the drug fairly and distributing it equally to everyone. pharmacy. It is true that the number of orders increased, but they were evenly distributed, so there is no doubt that the importer is selling large quantities in order to smuggle them. Therefore, it is highly likely that the smuggler will be the one who individually collects the drug from pharmacies and packages it in a bag with the aim of smuggling it out of the country and out of the way of Lebanese in need to take the pill. The proof of this is the arrest of a smuggling ring that was heading to Egypt with hundreds of boxes of medicines at the airport, and during the investigation its members admitted that they obtained the smuggled drugs from pharmacies.
And he considered that “the attempt to commercialize from some circles that the importer has a hand in smuggling is a matter of deceiving the investigation and moving away from the real networks behind it, and pointing the finger of accusation at parties that have nothing to do with it. the problem at all. ”
Smuggling is a red line
Regarding the medicine that arrives in Kinshasa in the Congo and the price is written in Lebanese pounds, while now there are no painkillers in our pharmacies, Jabara pointed out that “if the importer was someone who violates the laws or even has the intention of smuggling in abroad, would not have written his name with the price, in Lebanese pounds and the ration number of medicines on the contraband packages.
He considered that “instead of the raids on the warehouses of one of them, their medicines were found in Kinshasa, so that control over the border crossings is activated, and this requires a decisive decision”, because they are carried out in the airport. , the port, and the legitimate and illegal crossings. He continued: “The security forces also look for goods suspected of contraband, such as drugs and weapons … They look for other contraband goods and consider the subsidized goods that are taken out of the country as a red line.”
The elimination of subsidies
Upon reaching a stage where drug subsidies will be lifted, he said: “The drug subsidy will not be eliminated, but will be rationalized, as already announced by the Minister of Public Health, when he said that drugs for diseases Chronic diseases and incurable diseases will remain subsidized and their prices will not rise, but on the contrary, non-prescription medicines and diseases The acute course, which constitutes one third of medicines, will be calculated on the basis of the exchange rate of the dollar 3900 pounds instead of 1500 pounds, bearing in mind that there is an alternative and will be taken for a short time. The smuggling in general and the storage of large quantities of drugs in particular by the Lebanese deprives those who need them from taking them, as occurs today due to their interruption in pharmacies, noting that average sales rose to 20%, especially in the second. half of last year. Is there any decision by the state to impose its presence, prepare for rampant smuggling, and stop the bleeding of the rare and difficult foreign exchange reserves of the Central Bank of Lebanon?
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