Health Ministry Officials Involved in Medicine Smuggling
Kickbacks to Ministry officials. Parliament and military members involved in gun sales and smuggling, officials involved in child smuggling, etc.
SANA’A, NewsYemen
A newly released official report has revealed that owners of so many medicine stores across the country, who have high posts in the ministry of public health and population, practice medicines smuggling.
The report, released by the High Authority of Medicine, said those officials also help and protect medicines smugglers for some commissions in return.
The Yemeni Pharmacists Syndicate said that some 60% of medicines in Yemeni market are smuggled.
The High Authority of Medicine has announced in its report, NewsYemen got a copy of, it is preparing a new strategy to improve its performance to control imported and local medicines, in addition to developing human resources and technical measures.
It said that the strategy would deal with new mechanisms to prevent smuggling fake medicines into the country.
An official report, previously released by the Central Organization for Controlling and Auditing, has disclosed that Yemen loses five billion annually due to smuggled medicines. It said Yemen annually imports medicines from 50 Arab and foreign countries of as much as $ 117 million.
The report said the Yemeni private and mixed sectors import 86 percent of medicines of $101 million and that the local production is only 4.72 percent of almost $ 5 million.
