BISHKEK: Kyrgyzstan announced on Friday it was facing a shortage of medicines, particularly for treating serious illnesses in the Central Asian country, that imports almost all pharmaceutical products.
Landlocked Kyrgyzstan is one of the poorest of the former Soviet republics and brings in most of its medicines from Russia, India and Pakistan.
Many Kyrgyz have to build up considerable savings in order to receive treatment abroad — a practice authorities have promised to end.
In 2023, the Kyrgyz government set up a state-owned company — Kyrgyzpharmacy — to centralize the distribution to hospitals of medicines needed to treat cancer, blood diseases and epilepsy.
The measure — which involved buying medicines directly from manufacturers — was designed to combat corruption.
“The company needs 3.5 billion Som — more than 38.5 million euros ($40 million) — to guarantee the purchase of medicine and increase volumes,” said Health Minister Alymkadyr Beishenaliev.
The government has also launched a network of state-run pharmacies designed to bring down the price of medicines — which is higher than in most other ex-Soviet states.
The health minister acknowledged on Friday that most of them were not profitable and announced he had sacked the head of Kyrgyzphamarcy, at the request of President Sadyr Japarov.
Members of parliament have warned about the shortage of medicines, criticized the state of the medical infrastructure and suggested raising funds for children with cancer.
On Thursday, parliamentary speaker Nurlan Shakiyev said: “Supply of medicines to the population is a thorny issue.”
He noted the public was “concerned about a significant increase in the price of essential and sought-after medicines.”
Medicine shortage sparks worry in Central Asian Kyrgyzstan
https://arab.news/zern5
Medicine shortage sparks worry in Central Asian Kyrgyzstan
- Landlocked Kyrgyzstan is one of the poorest of former Soviet republics and brings in most of medicines from Russia, India and Pakistan
- Many Kyrgyz have to build up considerable savings in order to receive treatment abroad, a practice that authorities have promised to end
Ethiopia accuses Eritrea of arming rebels in escalating war of words
- The charge by Ethiopia’s federal police escalates a feud between Ethiopia and Eritrea
- The two countries fought a three-year border war that broke out in 1998
ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopian police said they had seized thousands of rounds of ammunition sent by Eritrea to rebels in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, an allegation Eritrea dismissed as a falsehood intended to justify starting a war.
The charge by Ethiopia’s federal police escalates a feud between Ethiopia and Eritrea, longstanding foes who reached a peace deal in 2018 that has since given way to renewed threats and acrimony.
The police said in a statement late on Wednesday they had seized 56,000 rounds of ammunition and arrested two suspects this week in the Amhara region, where Fano rebels have waged an insurgency since 2023.
“The preliminary investigation conducted on the two suspects who were caught red-handed has confirmed that the ammunition was sent by the Shabiya government,” the statement said, using a term for Eritrea’s ruling party.
Eritrea’s Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel told Reuters that Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s Prosperity Party (PP) was looking for a pretext to attack.
“The PP regime is floating false flags to justify the war that it has been itching to unleash for two long years,” he said.
In an interview earlier this week with state-run media, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki said the Prosperity Party had declared war on his country. He said Eritrea did not want war, but added: “We know how to defend our nation.”
The two countries fought a three-year border war that broke out in 1998, five years after Eritrea won its independence from Ethiopia. They signed a historic agreement to normalize relations in 2018 that won Ethiopia’s Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize the following year. Eritrean troops then fought in support of Ethiopia’s army during a 2020-22 civil war in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region.
But relations soured after Asmara was frozen out of the peace deal that ended that conflict. Since then, Eritrea has bristled at repeated public declarations by Abiy that landlocked Ethiopia has a right to sea access — comments many in Eritrea, which lies on the Red Sea, view as an implicit threat of military action.
Abiy has said Ethiopia does not seek conflict with Eritrea and wants to address the issue of sea access through dialogue.
