Shortage of pediatric medicines at pharmacies is reportedly prompting some people to visit neighboring Gulf countries such as Bahrain and Kuwait to buy the supplies they need. The medicines include VD3, a vitamin dispensed to babies from birth up to the age of one year and described by pediatricians as essential for the treatment of malnutrition, Tempra analgesic drops and Dentox gel – used to soothe teething pain. Parents described the medicines brought in from Bahrain, Kuwait and other neighboring countries as safe and highly potent, according to Arabic daily Al-Madina. Local pharmacists said some of these medicines are available but hard to find. They said the general non-availability has nothing to do with the medicines being harmful to babies and children. Mohammad Ali, a sales official at the Medical Services Company, told Al-Watan that import of some European medicines was discontinued by the agents themselves due to the higher Euro exchange rate. Added to this the absence of agents for some brands of medicine. Ali added that while pharmaceutical agents deal with more than 120 European companies, there are no more than 10 local medicine manufacturing facilities. Pharmacist Osama Al-Nahawi, branch manager of Al-Hayat Pharmaceutical Company in Al-Khobar, said the shortage was because of purely commercial reasons: “Manufacturing facilities will find that sale prices are unfeasible – lower than the cost of production,” he said. Al-Nahawi added that some pediatric medicines such as vitamins and analgesics are secondary ones and may be replaced by other brands. Another reason cited by Al-Nahawi for the shortage is the expansion of medical manufacturing facilities affiliated to European companies into new markets in Africa. “As a result of this expansion, the quantities of medicine exported to Saudi Arabia and other countries was reduced and priority was given to the new branches, hence delays in the production lines supplying the local market”, he said. Al-Nahawi told Al-Watan that the Gulf Bid Project will greatly contribute to standardizing medicine prices Gulf
