Egypt is facing serious drug shortages

Egypt is raising the price cap on medicines that cost up to 30 Egyptian pounds ($3.38) by 20 percent in an effort to address drug shortages, the health minister said on Monday.

Pharmaceutical companies will now be obliged to offer those medicines or risk having their licenses revoked, and the ministry is coordinating with the supplies and military production ministries to ensure the drugs are on the shelves, the minister told a news conference.

A weaker currency has made it more expensive to import raw materials and with the price of finished medicines fixed by the Health Ministry, some manufacturers have stopped making some cheap generic medicines to staunch growing financial losses.

Millions of poor Egyptians rely on the generic medicines.

Though medicines are classed as essential goods, putting them high on the priority list at banks deciding how to allocate precious dollar rations, pharmaceutical companies say they still face serious problems that force them to slow or pause production.