Patients in Tunisia left without treatment due to medicine shortage

Tunisia is currently struggling with a medicine shortage after several essential drugs have vanished from pharmacy shelves, according to The Arab Weekly via agencies on September 3rd. There have been urgent calls to remedy the situation, which has consistently been occurring in recent years. Analysts have called out management, financial problems, and smuggling to neighbouring countries, as reasons for the problem.

Secretary-General of the National Council of the Order of Pharmacists Thouraya Ennaifer confirmed that Tunisia is experiencing shortages in imported medicines specifically, explaining that the crisis stems from financial challenges, such as cash flow problems at the central pharmacy. The pharmacy is owed significant sums by the National Health Insurance Fund. Ennaifer also said that the shortages affect modern medications primarily, or drugs that are not produced locally due to the advanced technology that is necessary.

She revealed that this problem has been ongoing since 2014, and has persisted infrequently since. National pharmaceutical production, which supplies roughly 70% of local demand, also faces its own challenges. This includes delays in approvals for new medications, which can take up to four years.

Ennaifer has noted several solutions that can fix the issue, calling out the National Medicines Vigilance Committee for not meeting regularly, which has led to a lack of official assessments or statistics.

In November 2021, Tunisia faced a shortage of essential medicines, which included insulin and chemotherapy drugs. This led to the Ministry of Health assessing the national requirements and rationalising spending. In December 2022, an estimate of 700 drugs were found to be missing, according to the General Association of Pharmacists of Tunisia.

2023, however, was described as the most difficult year for medicine supply in Tunisia by the former union head Naoufel Amira. During this year, there was a reduction in imports due to a financial crisis, leading to many patients unable to obtain their necessary medication and forced to turn to European doctors instead.

On May 1st, Tunisie Numerique reported that Tunisian Health Minister Mustapha Ferjani labelled the inefficiencies in the distribution network as the reason for the shortage, rather than financial challenges. During the International Pharmacy Forum in Tunisia, he announced that the pharmaceutical supply chain would be modernised.

Tunisia’s medical shortages continue to impact patients suffering from a multitude of conditions, including several cancers.