{"id":17917,"date":"2026-10-13T09:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T07:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/?p=17917"},"modified":"2026-10-10T09:13:29","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T07:13:29","slug":"egypt-medicine-shortages-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/egypt-medicine-shortages-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"Egypt\u2019s EGP 90 Billion Medicine Budget: Why Do Shortages Persist?"},"content":{"rendered":"

On 2 September 2026, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced<\/a> that Egypt had allocated around EGP 90 billion for medicines and medical supplies in hospitals in the 2026\/2027 financial year. The announcement came during a meeting on treatment availability attended by the ministers of health, finance and higher education and the heads of the Egyptian Drug Authority and Unified Procurement Authority. Between the allocation on paper and the medicines patients find at dispensing points, interviews with parliamentarians and pharmaceutical specialists raise questions about funding, pricing, production and distribution together.<\/p>\n

The announcement prompted debate about whether funding is adequate and how it translates into available medicines. In her interview for this report, MP Nevin Iskandar uses an illustrative calculation, dividing the sum by 120 million people to arrive at around EGP 750 per person annually. That calculation does not represent an individual allocation or an approved treatment entitlement. The government figure combines medicines and medical supplies for hospitals; it is not Egypt\u2019s total expenditure on medicines.<\/p>\n

Egyptian Drug Authority figures put local manufacturing at around 91% of pharmaceutical preparations. Producing a finished medicine in Egypt, however, does not mean that every input is manufactured domestically. In a statement dated 15 June 2026<\/a>, the authority set out plans to localise the 50 leading imported active pharmaceutical ingredients. These account for around 78% of imports of active ingredients for human medicines, a proportion relating to those imports, not to all medicines on the market.<\/p>\n

Trade figures illustrate the sector\u2019s dependence on overseas supplies. According to figures reported by Al-Ahram Business<\/a> from the United Nations trade database through the World Bank\u2019s WITS platform, Egypt imported about USD 3.605 billion of pharmaceutical products classified under customs heading HS30 in 2024, against exports of approximately USD 448.7 million. That produces a trade deficit of roughly USD 3.16 billion. Major suppliers included Switzerland, Germany, the United States, France and Italy. The figure describes a financial trade gap; it does not measure the number of medicines in short supply or necessarily include every raw material used by the industry.<\/p>\n

Pharmaceutical imports reached around USD 2.94 billion in 2025, according to Trading Economics\u2019 presentation of UN trade data. In a separate series reported by Al-Shorouk<\/a> from the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, exports of medicines and pharmaceutical preparations reached USD 509.1 million, compared with USD 449.4 million in 2024, with reported growth of 13.2%. Imports in that series were USD 2.97 billion, against USD 3.51 billion. These are distinct series with different sources and classifications, not interchangeable values to combine into a single deficit calculation.<\/p>\n

In a television interview<\/a> in July 2026, Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar described a market worth EGP 422 billion, annual growth of around 25% and production approaching four billion packs annually. The Drug Authority\u2019s June statement, meanwhile, put the value of the 2025 market at EGP 422 billion, with a 37% increase in value over 2024 and a compound annual growth rate of around 15%. The distinction between the period and type of indicator matters: these percentages are not one identical measure, nor do they indicate equivalent growth in the number of packs.<\/p>\n

Medicine sales reached approximately EGP 106.6 billion in the first quarter of 2026, up 15.9% year on year, according to IQVIA data reported by Youm7<\/a> in May. That source attributed growth in value primarily to higher average selling prices following the price adjustments of 2025. Increased monetary sales alone therefore do not establish that availability has improved or that patients are receiving more medicine.<\/p>\n

Against complaints about shortages and rising prices, Madbouly told the September meeting that hospital stocks of medicines and medical supplies were reassuring and that the Unified Procurement Authority had an integrated storage, distribution and supply system. The meeting also addressed challenges facing patients treated at state expense or through health insurance in university hospitals. This is the government\u2019s stated account. The following interviews examine how supplies reach patients and whether access is sustained.<\/p>\n

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EGP 90 billion: what does the allocation cover?<\/h2>\n

Nevin Iskandar, a member of the House of Representatives representing the Coordination Committee of Party Youth Leaders and Politicians, says the allocation may initially suggest a substantial increase capable of easing the medicine crisis. Read against the size of the population and pharmaceutical market, however, she expects its effect to be limited.<\/p>\n

Iskandar tells Zawia3 that the funds are distributed across several bodies and cover medical supplies as well as medicines. She argues that the increase alone is insufficient to anticipate a noticeable improvement, particularly as prices change. Her assessment uses the EGP 750 illustration obtained by dividing EGP 90 billion by 120 million. It is her illustrative calculation, not an official count of beneficiaries or an official per-person treatment allocation.<\/p>\n

A substantial share of pharmaceutical inputs is imported, she explains, and imported active ingredients account for a significant portion of a finished product\u2019s cost. Egypt spends billions of dollars annually on consuming and importing medicines. The scale of this expenditure and its dependence on foreign currency make the industry particularly sensitive to exchange-rate fluctuations.<\/p>\n

She stresses that the crisis cannot be treated simply as a question of assigning funds. Medicines are directly connected to health and national security, especially for people dependent on health insurance, cancer patients, people with kidney disease or receiving dialysis, and those with chronic conditions requiring an uninterrupted supply of treatment and equipment.<\/p>\n

Iskandar sees a conflict between official statements on stocks: the health minister has acknowledged problems with particular products, notably insulin, while the prime minister has described reserves as reassuring. \u201cWhere is that stock? Where does it appear in pharmacies? Who has been affected?\u201d she asks. Families of dialysis patients struggle to obtain what they need, she says, as do people with diabetes who require insulin regularly.<\/p>\n

That comparison expresses the MP\u2019s objection. A statement about hospital reserves at a particular moment, however, differs from measuring whether a specific product is available in pharmacies or regularly distributed to every patient. An overall reserve can coexist with local supply bottlenecks.<\/p>\n

Iskandar adds that a reassuring inventory at one moment does not necessarily guarantee continuity of supply. Global disruption, currency movements and changes in trade and shipping can all affect the arrival of raw materials and finished medicines in Egypt.<\/p>\n

\u201cPharmaceutical security requires continuity of supply chains and protection against disruption, whether from exchange-rate fluctuations, global crises or interruptions to trade and ports. Any disruption to international supply chains can quickly affect vital sectors, foremost among them food and medicine,\u201d Iskandar says.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Opening new pharmaceutical factories is not sufficient on its own, she argues, unless it forms part of a clear plan to increase domestic value added, strengthen research and development, improve manufacturing quality and secure a real return on investment in the sector. She calls for a comprehensive strategy incorporating workforce training, industrial development, technology transfer and greater domestic capacity to produce pharmaceutical components.<\/p>\n

She also criticises what she describes as an imbalance in the relationship between the Unified Procurement Authority and private companies. While the authority spends billions on medicines and supplies, she says its purchasing and supply mechanisms sometimes harm private manufacturers. She regards that sector as a principal driver of Egypt\u2019s pharmaceutical industry, contributing technology, employment and a large share of local needs, and argues that public policy should support it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Unified Procurement Authority dominates a large part of medicine and medical-supply purchasing and imposes very low prices on suppliers, while some private companies\u2019 payments are delayed,\u201d she says. In her assessment, this produces conflict and poor coordination between the public and private sectors. She also criticises exclusive supply contracts, particularly for new government hospitals, arguing that these weaken some partnerships and push companies out of the supply market when they cannot sustain the financing, manufacturing and logistical burdens.<\/p>\n

Addressing the crisis, she believes, requires reform of the manufacturing and supply environment rather than reliance on one body to manage a large portion of the market. Private companies need financing and the capacity to keep operating: financial or production problems at those businesses can ultimately reduce the medicines available to patients.<\/p>\n

Iskandar argues that the 91% figure for meeting local demand does not capture the full depth of domestic manufacturing. In her view, it reflects substantial local packaging or assembly that still relies on imported inputs. Limited research and development and insufficient continuous production of raw materials leave Egypt dependent on imports and foreign-currency expenditure.<\/p>\n

Using imported ingredients does not, however, mean that all local industry consists only of packaging. Manufacturing finished preparations, packaging them and producing active ingredients are different stages. A localisation percentage needs to be read according to the stage it measures.<\/p>\n

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Medicine shortages and imported ingredients<\/h2>\n

Mahmoud Fouad, head of the Right to Medicine Association, describes shortages in hospital and health-insurance medicines, particularly insulin, cancer and rheumatoid-arthritis treatments, medicines for Mediterranean diseases and other widely used products. He says health insurance has paid the Procurement Authority sums due but has not received the medicines required in return, aggravating shortages.<\/p>\n

In his account, the problem extends beyond hospital dispensaries into private pharmacies. He says hundreds of products are unavailable, including locally manufactured treatments for colds, bronchial conditions, asthma, bowel disorders and rheumatoid arthritis, as well as chemotherapy and insulin. His description is not a verified nationwide inventory of every unavailable product.<\/p>\n

Fouad attributes part of the crisis to difficulties importing active ingredients and to higher factory costs following increases in electricity, petrol and gas prices and changes in the pound\u2019s exchange rate. He also alleges that some companies, under pressure from production costs, reduce production or stop importing particular products to press for price increases.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Zawia3 for the report prepared in September, Fouad said the Drug Authority was moving towards a more flexible pricing structure that might permit more frequent reviews. He referred to Decision 499 governing reference pricing. For accuracy, Decision 499 of 2012<\/a> was issued under Health Minister Fouad El-Nawawy. Fouad\u2019s expectations about its replacement describe his view at the time of the interview; they do not by themselves establish that a new decision had been issued or when it would take effect.<\/p>\n

In a development after the interview, Masrawy published<\/a> an account of BMI\u2019s analysis of the new pricing framework on 6 October 2026. It argued that tying reviews to production costs could reduce shortage risks, while reliance on imported ingredients remained a vulnerability. That assessment belongs to the research institution; it does not in itself demonstrate an end to shortages or improved affordability for patients.<\/p>\n

Fouad does not believe the problem is solely the size of the announced budget. He attributes severe shortages in university, general and central hospitals partly to shortcomings in the Procurement Authority\u2019s deliveries. He estimates its debts to pharmaceutical companies at around EGP 42 billion and says only a quarter or a third has been paid, with companies demanding outstanding payments before resuming normal supplies.<\/p>\n

The figures for outstanding and settled payments are Fouad\u2019s estimates. The material supplied for this report did not include financial statements allowing independent verification. His account of the causes of shortages and company practices is his assessment, not the result of an audit of every company or hospital. The government, by contrast, stresses the effectiveness of purchasing, storage and distribution. Resolving that disagreement requires detailed information about products, contracts and delivery dates.<\/p>\n

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Funding actual needs and repairing supply chains<\/h2>\n

Basil Adel, head of the Al-Waey Party and a member of the Senate, argues that persistent shortages despite higher allocations point to problems in estimating needs or arranging supplies. More funding does not automatically resolve gaps while people still struggle to obtain particular treatments, whether through health insurance or outside it.<\/p>\n

He links some shortages and disappearing products to difficulty importing active ingredients because required raw materials are unavailable. Suitable therapeutic alternatives do not exist in every case, he says, making it essential to identify a list of core active ingredients whose continuous supply must be protected.<\/p>\n

\u201cA precise study of pharmaceutical needs should be based on average actual consumption over at least three years. That would identify high-demand products and direct funding towards them, instead of increasing quantities of medicines that are not a priority for consumers,\u201d Adel tells Zawia3.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cEgypt has not yet achieved complete pharmaceutical security as long as an essential share of the raw materials underpinning local industry is imported,\u201d he adds. Continued reliance on imported active ingredients leaves manufacturing exposed to disruptions at any time, whether caused by raw-material shortages, currency changes or shifting priorities among supplying countries and companies.<\/p>\n

Adel proposes a regulated system to redistribute unused medicines held by households, drawing on practices he says exist elsewhere. Medicines no longer needed could be collected and made available to patients at reduced cost or free of charge, subject to safeguards ensuring their suitability and safety. He sees this as a possible partial bridge between needs and available supplies while underlying causes are addressed.<\/p>\n

This is his proposal for a mechanism requiring regulation and oversight, not an established programme shown to have been adopted in Egypt. Storage conditions, packaging integrity, traceability and professional assessment would be essential. An unexpired date alone cannot establish that a medicine removed from a controlled distribution chain remains safe.<\/p>\n

Adel also urges Egypt to move beyond its role as an importer by investing in major pharmaceutical businesses abroad, including through shareholdings. Where Egypt cannot manufacture an ingredient entirely at home, he argues, participation in overseas producers could provide a degree of influence over essential supply chains and improve security of access.<\/p>\n

Continued reliance on imported inputs, dollars and the decisions of foreign producers leaves the country vulnerable, in his view. He therefore advocates parallel routes: scientific research, domestic manufacture of active ingredients and investment in foreign raw-material producers.<\/p>\n

He calls for stronger research and the use of agricultural and plant resources to supply some pharmaceutical inputs, alongside specialised pharmaceutical cities and industrial complexes. The state has begun taking steps in that direction, he says, but projects require time before reaching the production capacity needed to narrow the trade gap.<\/p>\n

Developing local formulations, patents and scientific knowledge could help Egypt produce its own preparations and enter new export markets, Adel argues. Reducing shortages and the import-export gap requires a combined industrial, scientific and investment policy, rather than a budget increase alone.<\/p>\n

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Localisation: finished medicines and active ingredients<\/h2>\n

Ali Abdallah, director of the Egyptian Centre for Pharmaceutical Studies, Statistics and Addiction Control, likewise says shortages cannot be reduced to the government allocation. He distinguishes state-funded treatment, including health-insurance patients and treatment at state expense, from product availability in the private market, monitored by the Drug Authority. The government announcement also covers hospital medical supplies, not medicines alone.<\/p>\n

Egypt\u2019s move towards localisation means gradually reducing reliance on fully imported products and expanding domestic manufacturing or packaging, he explains. Some shortages may arise during that transition, but a range of locally produced equivalents can help fill part of the gap.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne medicine may have around 12 equivalents, some entirely imported and others manufactured locally,\u201d he tells Zawia3. Imported brands, especially those belonging to multinational businesses, may be more familiar to doctors and patients. Switching to locally made equivalents can therefore also require a change in attitudes towards medicines.<\/p>\n

Abdallah distinguishes a pharmaceutical equivalent from a therapeutic alternative. The former contains the same active ingredient but is produced by another company. The latter contains a different active ingredient intended to serve the same therapeutic purpose.<\/p>\n

A similar name or shared ingredient alone is not sufficient grounds for substitution. Dosage form, strength, method of use, equivalence requirements and registration all matter. Suitability for an individual patient must be assessed by the relevant doctor and pharmacist.<\/p>\n

Abdallah criticises restrictions affecting distribution between pharmacies. Some cannot order particular products directly from companies because they lack regular trading arrangements or are on what he describes as a \u201cblacklist\u201d, and obtain them from other pharmacies instead. He says this movement may expose them to regulatory penalties and calls for rules that protect both availability and a secure distribution chain. This is his description of the problem, not a finding that every form of medicine transfer between institutions has the same legal status.<\/p>\n

He also points to interruptions in supplies from government warehouses and companies during annual stocktaking, which he says can contribute to shortages. Addressing the problem, he argues, requires attention to distribution mechanisms, rules for transfers between pharmacies, warehouse and distributor operations and the management of state-owned businesses in medicine supply chains, alongside domestic manufacturing and raw materials.<\/p>\n

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Medicine quality and patients\u2019 trust<\/h2>\n

Walid Shawqi, head of the Medicine for All Foundation, makes the same distinction between expenditure borne by the state, including health-insurance treatment and treatment at state expense, and private-sector purchases. Allocating EGP 90 billion to hospitals does not automatically resolve shortages in private pharmacies, he argues, because different financing, purchasing and distribution arrangements affect where gaps arise and how they can be addressed.<\/p>\n

The availability of medicines and monitoring of shortages in the private market fall primarily within the Drug Authority\u2019s remit, he says. Egypt is gradually moving from importing finished medicines towards local manufacturing or packaging, providing work for Egyptian plants and expanding production capacity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe medicine pack, leaflet and other packaging components are manufactured locally to a large extent, while some ingredients used in tablets and capsules remain imported,\u201d Shawqi tells Zawia3. A tablet requires more than its active ingredient: it also contains supporting substances known as excipients. Egypt remains heavily dependent on imported pharmaceutical raw materials, he says, although factories have begun producing some of them domestically.<\/p>\n

He regards consumer attitudes towards domestic and imported medicines as another challenge. Some patients and doctors favour imported products or better-known brands despite regulatory oversight of local medicines. A locally manufactured medicine should not automatically be treated as inferior, he argues, because manufacturing and circulation are subject to supervision beginning before market entry and continuing until the product reaches the patient.<\/p>\n

Localisation is a long-term process of gradually increasing the domestic content of production, Shawqi stresses. Egypt has taken substantial steps, in his view, but complete self-sufficiency requires continued, incremental work.<\/p>\n

The shortage debate shows why increasing allocations for medicines and medical supplies cannot, on its own, guarantee that treatment reaches patients. Alongside the EGP 90 billion commitment, interviewees describe gaps in hospitals and pharmacies. Meanwhile, reliance on imported active ingredients and other inputs leaves supply exposed to exchange rates, international trade and companies\u2019 capacity to finance production and deliveries.<\/p>\n

A high share of locally manufactured finished medicines is a step towards reducing external dependence. Lasting pharmaceutical security also requires deeper domestic production of active ingredients and industrial inputs, stronger research, technology transfer and scientific knowledge. Pricing, purchasing, supply and distribution arrangements must be addressed at the same time, so that additional expenditure becomes treatment patients can actually obtain, rather than a budget figure whose effect they cannot see at the pharmacy or hospital.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Five interviews examine why hospital allocations, imported ingredients, pricing and procurement do not automatically translate into medicines patients can obtain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":18129,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[409],"tags":[18228,18224,18223,18225,18229,5665,18227,18226],"kateb":[1550],"class_list":["post-17917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economics-en","tag-active-pharmaceutical-ingredients","tag-drug-prices","tag-egypt-medicine-shortages","tag-egyptian-drug-authority","tag-health-budget","tag-health-insurance","tag-pharmaceutical-manufacturing","tag-unified-procurement-authority","kateb-aya-yasser"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/med90-cover-wide.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17917"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19549,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17917\/revisions\/19549"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17917"},{"taxonomy":"kateb","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kateb?post=17917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}