Like the case when a
patient complaining of a slight pain sees a doctor, then the physician asks him
for some radio scans and laboratory tests to finally discover that the patient
is suffering from more than a disease in many parts of the body…
This is what happened in
the case we have been discussing here during the last weeks regarding the
medications’ issue in Egypt… as we started with an incident that some saw is
fake and not true about accusing a pharmacist and certain pharmaceutical company
of hiding important medications to cause damage to both people and economy… but
the issue went bigger and bigger to the extent that we had several articles,
comments and replies demonstrating the matter.
In such regard, I wrote
an article last week where I excerpted part of the message sent to me by the
pharmacist Raga’i Qousa who was in charge of important positions of the syndicate
of pharmacists. Once I published the article, I received a lot of comments on
my Facebook page representing different opinions. I will mention two of them
here as I believe they shed light over a real dilemma we have in the fields of
medicine and pharmacy; whether regarding the education or the practice levels.
The first comment was of
Professor Dr. Gamal Mustafa; the eminent professor of public surgery
domestically and internationally known in his field. He is also known in the
cultural domain and public work through Al-Garrah cultural saloon which tackles
the most important and critical problems facing our society.
The second comment came
from Professor Dr. Charles Beshri Megally; the prominent Cardiology professor. He
is also very much in deep love of the Arabic language and its arts. In addition,
he is a big fan of music and singing especially al-Rahbani Brothers and Fairouz
and he has a distinguished talent to analyze both melodies and words. And so, I
believe both of them are interested in the issue discussed, not due to our
friendship, but due to what is more important; they are true to themselves.
Dr. Gamal wrote: “… that’s
what I expected… all doctors are being unfairly accused and misjudged… while
there are doctors who are kinder to the patient than his own family… as to
writing the scientific name of the medications, there are many disputed issues
regarding applying such practice, since scientific names are compound, complicated
and long because they have basically Latin origins … and those selling
medications in pharmacies now are not often pharmacists, but actually holders
of average degree of education… and so, there is a risk here that will emerge
when applying such practice… however, you stirred a real problem concerning the
patient that is more important than any other problems. Here, there are some
key points we have to pay attention to:
1- Fresh graduate
physicians and pharmacists need long years of practice to memorize the
scientific names.
2- The scientific names
of some medications could be very similar and may vary in only one letter. This
may result that we have two medications, very similar in name, curing two
diseases; one for the heart and the other for rheumatoid for example. Here, there
is a risk that may reach causing death to the patient if the wrong medication
was administered to him.
3- The commercial names
include some meanings that are of benefit to the one writing the prescription…
as the commercial name may indicate if the medication effect is short- or long-term…
it may also indicate if it can be used for male or female patients… it may
indicate if the medication contains any dangerous components, like Cortisone
for example… it may indicate the organ the medicine will affect… and the way of
taking it… not to mention that the commercial name sometimes has a melodic tone
and is easier to remember, especially for general practitioners who represent
more than 90 percent of physicians and pharmacists.
As to experts like me,
only long-years experience determines which medication to use regardless of the
production company no matter the temptations they offer, since the physician is
responsible of the result of the cure he prescribes… and the production company
will be of no good to him if he was prosecuted before law”.
Then, Dr. Charles Beshri
Megally wrote: “… most of what came in the pharmacist’s message regarding the
fancy cars is nothing but pure imagination… this could be possible if we are
talking about the one responsible for registering or pricing the medication,
but it is completely unreasonable to be a reward for a doctor to write the
medication in his prescription…
Your article has stirred
many grudges and generalization issues spread in our society like it is always
the case in Egypt and the east in general… of course, we have here in Egypt,
like in the whole world, doctors who make profits out of brokering and corrupt
dealings… also, there are pharmacists who sell medications they know very well
are deadly like, for example, that anti-clotting medication that was deadly and
illegally smuggled and that led to killing hundreds of the poor people… there
are also pharmacists who hide medications and refuse to sell them waiting for their
price to go higher…
We do not live in a
community of angels; however, there are doctors and pharmacists here in Egypt who
can really make you proud of them… as to writing the scientific name of the medications,
this will make a lot of problems like Dr. Gamal Mustafa said… not to mention
that most of those selling medications in pharmacies are not qualified… the truth
is, our universities right now are producing pharmaceutically-ignorant
pharmacists who do not know the names of medications or their uses, and so they
make horrible mistakes that can lead to the death of the patient.
In addition, we know very
well that the original medication; whether made in Egypt or imported, is
different in its effectiveness to what we call “Copies” spread in the market. These
Copies, made of law-quality raw materials, are definitely different to the
medications fabricated by a company other than the original company after
intellectual property rights expire… these medications are called the
alternative medicine. This message of the pharmacist made me laugh… too
miserable to make you laugh”.
Comments of professors
Dr. Gamal and Dr. Charles ended. They shed light on what is more important than
the medications’ issue in Egypt because they agreed on the point that we suffer
from corruption and ignorance in the fields of medicine and pharmacy. However,
they both were against generalization and inciting grudges. Also, they did not
deny the deterioration of university education in the faculties of pharmacy. And
so, again we come back to the main question: how can we achieve the renaissance
of our nation by curing the main problem and not its symptoms?... will
cauterization by applying severe punishments be the answer?
The medications’ issue
has opened up some abscesses Egypt is suffering from. However, the Egyptian
nation is still resisting, like the files of corruption abscess the Administrative
Control Agency is opening and investigating in places that were once above judgment.
Now, I ask your
permission to pay attention to other issues other than medication, however, we
may come back to it if necessary.
Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar
Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar
This
article was published in Almasry alyoum newspaper on January 4, 2017.
To
see the original article, go to:
#almasry_alyoum
#ahmed_elgammal #medications_in_Egypt #corruption
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