Mohammed Al-Mostafa, 70, a resident of Barzeh, north of Damascus, who has been battling diabetes for almost a decade, cannot afford his medicines. “They now cost me more than 8.60 euros a month, almost half of my pension of 21.50 euros, which leaves me and my family in a difficult situation,” he explains. In Syria, where one in 10 people suffers from this same disease, the cost of a month’s insulin can amount to 12 euros, almost a third of the average worker’s salary.
In this country, mired in a conflict that has lasted 13 years, 15.3 million people (out of a population of 23 million) need humanitarian aid, including 7.5 million children, According to Unicef.
Like Al-Mostafa, millions of Syrians cannot access essential medicines. But a Facebook group is helping thousands of people get the medicines they so desperately need for free.
The Pharmaceutical Solidarity Initiative was born by Mohammed Ali Al-Ahmad, a vascular surgeon, and Roger Nasrallah, a delivery man, in 2020, when the doctor photographed the drug samples that pharmaceutical companies gave him as part of their campaign to marketing and were available at his clinic. He shared his photos in a Facebook post, writing: “If anyone needs any kind of medicine, come to my clinic to get it for free.” The post reached Nasrallah, who, after many failed attempts to get medicine for his grandmother and father, who are diabetic and hypertensive, felt like he had been thrown a lifeline. After getting the necessary medication for his family, he began brainstorming ways to help the doctor deliver the medicines directly to patients, as he had experience in home delivery.
They launched their Facebook group on June 7, 2020, asking for donations. Al-Ahmad’s 16-square-meter clinic was transformed into a warehouse, and beds intended for patients were converted into spaces to sort medicines. Al-Ahmad fondly remembers the first day of the initiative, when about 50 patients received the samples he had available, provided by other doctors.
The Facebook group, which now has more than 18,000 members, aims to procure unavailable drugs or provide frequently used medicines to citizens in need. Participants, including doctors, pharmacists and ordinary citizens, post the names and quantities of available drugs, which are then distributed free of charge. According to Nasrallah, between 2021 and 2023, the group managed some 21,600 prescriptions in Damascus alone, treating more than 100 patients a week and occasionally extending beyond the borders of the capital. “The situation in Syria is heartbreaking,” Al-Ahmad notes. “I remember once, in Douma, we had to split a prescription between two patients who desperately needed it. I can never forget how painful it was.”
Al-Ahmad’s role is to organise medicines and prescriptions, solicit donations or funds and ensure an equal share of work among the eight volunteers who have joined his initiative. Nasrallah is responsible for arranging visits to patients to deliver medication and helping to scale up the initiative to cope with the large influx of interested people. “Our aim is to help Syrians with whatever we can,” Nasrallah says. “It’s not an easy task. We have been through difficult times.”
According to Nasrallah, the constant problems of obtaining prescriptions and medicines, protecting patients from individuals advertising available drugs at inflated prices, and maintaining a continuous supply forced the duo to suspend their activity for a few months. “But when I see expatriates returning to Syria donating medicines to contribute to the initiative, it encourages me to continue,” he adds.
Economic instability
Although pharmaceutical factories in Syria have increased 24.7% compared to 2011domestic drug prices have skyrocketed. In 2023 alone, the government raised drug prices three times, increasing by between 70% and more than 100% for some products. Shortages of prescription drugs began to worsen in 2020 following the Caesar Act, a US federal regulation imposing sanctions on Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Rising raw material prices prompted local drug manufacturers to pressure the government to raise prices, a decision the government delayed until 2023.
The situation is exacerbated by a shortage of foreign currency, which has caused the Syrian pound to lose 80% of its value against the dollar. This has led to the disappearance of many essential medicines and fuelled black markets for medicines.
Facebook’s free delivery initiative is not able to help as many people as before. “Donations have decreased considerably due to the rise in drug prices,” says Al-Ahmad. “But we plan to expand our free services by developing a specific mobile application to streamline operations.”
Today, the initiative continues to serve about 10 patients a week, thanks to samples donated by Al-Ahmad and other doctor friends. Al-Mostafa is one of the patients currently benefiting from the free prescription delivery. “I wouldn’t know what to do without them,” he says. A sentiment shared by other beneficiaries like Therese George, 65, who relies on the e-pharmacy initiative for her heart and hypertension medications and describes Al-Ahmad and Nasrallah as her children. “The satisfaction of knowing that you have helped someone in need is the most rewarding feeling we get from this work,” Nasrallah says.
Rima Swaheh, a human rights activist, believes that initiatives like this charity pharmacy are “the backbone of community support.” “The humanitarian and social impact of the e-pharmacy initiative far exceeds that of many larger organizations and institutions, whose work often remains detached from real-life challenges,” she explains. “After all, true humanitarian work comes from understanding people’s needs and empathizing with their struggles.”
According to business journalist Faras Al-Qadi, pharmaceutical companies in Syria are currently pressuring the government to raise prices even further by periodically withdrawing medicines from the market, citing the halt in production. “Drug manufacturers are not in total financial ruin, as they claim, but are trying to make a profit,” he says. “Meanwhile, government employees, for example, now earn around 36 euros, an amount that is not enough to cover the rising costs of essential goods and services.”
A source at the ministry who prefers to remain anonymous reveals that the government is trying to balance the availability of medicines amid sanctions on Syria. “We are working with pharmaceutical manufacturers to set prices that meet the needs of patients while ensuring that factories can continue to operate,” he concludes.
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