Sudanese Protest Against the Surge in Drug Prices
Millions of Sudanese patients are suffering from the gigantic surge in the price of drugs, which have been made recently by the government. Although some price increases have been caused by the shortages of foreign currencies, others have resulted from the government's public policies. Medicines used to treat diabetes and dangerous diseases went up by %200 and the other medicines which treat, for instance, infectious diseases increased by %300.
The pharmaceutical business considered the governmental decisions as a real threat to their interests and the Sudanese patients. Although a group of pharmacists called for stopping these risky decisions, most of the Sudanese patients cannot afford the new prices as they are poor and vulnerable. Therefore, these decisions will lead to hazardous and catastrophic humanitarian situations in Sudan. Pharmacist union said: ‘’If the government does not stop the decisions, it will be very difficult for pharmaceutical firms to import medicines and some stop importing the medicine’’.
the Sudanese regime called for increasing the prices of medicines had powerfully encouraged the liberalization of the market drugs. The regime stated that the rise in the prices of drugs was due to foreign currency exchange against the Sudanese pound and a lack of hard currencies. The recent governmental decisions have made it difficult for the Sudanese people to receive good health services at reasonable prices. Consequently, the circumstances got worse and people’s suffering increased. the only way to force the government to stop implementing the new decisions was to protest demonstrations against the government.
The Sudanese people protested in the street for many days to try to persuade the regime in Khartoum to turn the drugs’ prices back and subsidise the medicines. Although massive demonstrations had been made by the Sudanese people, the regime in Khartoum announced that it would not give in to the people’s demands.
The greedy and corrupt regime reacted violently to the protesters. Thousands of military, intelligent and police officers and soldiers, came down to the streets in different Sudanese cities and tear-gassed the protesters. Some of the vulnerable people died and some others were killed by these forces, in particular, some of the opposition political leaders. Many others had been arrested for organizing the campaign against the government, they were sentenced to different periods of imprisonment.
Still, there are lots of victims suffering from these horrific decisions. those victims need help with provision of the good medicines to survive. Now there are lots of vague and inferior cheaper medicines in Sudan that threaten the safety of the people. Please help to stop this greedy regime from killing our people.
