Syrian health minister: Cancer medicine available from national sources

One of the Health Ministry's priorities is opening cancer treatment centers in all provinces as to ensure the access of health services to patients in the shortest and easiest ways, Health Minister, Dr. Saad al-Nayef said. Speaking to SANA on Wednesday, Dr. al-Nayef said that certain kinds of medicine have been provided from national sources, indicating that most of the cancer treatment medicines were requested from Iran and some friendly countries and ''are due to be arriving in the near future.'' Head of the Pharmacist Syndicate in Syria, Fares al-Shaar pointed a shortage in most of the cancer medicine that the Syndicate used to import from the EU due to the economic sanctions, affirming that ''the shortage is being addressed by importing medicine from friendly countries such as Iran and India.'' Al-Shaar indicated that this medicine is imported at lower prices than that imported from the EU, adding ''despite the varying and high prices of this medicine, the state continues to offer it to citizens for free.'' Al-Shaar said the Syndicate can cover the needs of citizens by 90 percent despite the difficulty that they face in securing some kinds of medicine. ''That's why it [medicine] might be replaced with alterative drugs,'' al-Shaar said, pointing to ''very few unavailable kinds of medicine.''