Royal directives to lower drug prices bring relief

AMMAN — Many Jordanians who regularly rely on expensive medication expressed their happiness of His Majesty King Abdullah’s directives to the government to lower the prices of many vital medicines.

Mahmoud Huzayen, a 50-year-old Jordanian with diabetes and blood pressure issues, said on Thursday that his medicine cost him over JD40 monthly, and once the decision is effective, they will be reduced to around JD30, which he said is “acceptable” for such basic medicine many people take, especially when the savings are looked at in the long-term.

“My parents suffer from the same diseases and their medication will also cost much less,” he said, adding that the decision covered heart, respiratory, diabetes and other medicines that are in great demand.

In praise of the decision that will alleviate the physical, mental and financial pains of Jordanians, Huzayen added that he hopes for more medication to be added to the list, especially ones for the treatment of rare diseases “to make everyone’s lives easier”.

For her part, Rand Abu Roza, whose mother suffers from migraines, said that her family had to get their medicine from abroad.

“When the reductions become tangible and more medicines are added to the list throughout the year as the health minister said, it is possible we will be able to afford the medicine here in Jordan instead of having to procure it from other countries,” she said.

She said this will save them a lot of trouble as her family will be able to purchase the medicine at affordable prices.

Mahmoud Jameel, whose teenage son suffers from asthma, said he has to buy medicine for his son on a monthly basis and that His Majesty’s decision will surely relieve him of the high costs of some types of medication, especially inhalers, which he has to carry with him at all times.

Jordan Pharmacists Association (JPhA) President Zeid Kilani said that the only solution to solve the issue of high medicine prices for consumers, pharmacists and pharmacy owners is to create specialised medical insurance, which can be implemented in various ways, but “the most ideal scenario is to have the government support it, by for example 50 per cent, thus creating cooperation with the private sector so both sectors can share the burdens and lift each other up”.

On Wednesday, the government announced reductions in the prices of 1,127 medicinal products and 89 other pharmaceutical preparations, ranging between 18 and 68 per cent.

The decision was made based on recommendations by a government committee tasked with the revision of medication prices and announced during a press conference to present the recommendations of a study conducted by the panel during Ramadan, which tackled the mechanism of pricing medication.

Jordan Food and Drug Administration (JFDA) Director General Hayel Obeidat, who heads the committee, during the conference said that medicine for heart conditions will witness a 30 per cent decrease, diabetes and digestive-system medication prices will be decreased by 50 per cent, antibiotics by 46 per cent and medicine for neurological and psychiatric conditions by 15 per cent.

On this, Rania Shahadah, a psychologist, said that the reduction in the prices of medicines for psychiatric conditions will help many patients, especially since some of those medicines can be really expensive for a lot of people.

“Many patients depend on psychiatric medicine alongside therapy and the King’s directives to the government will surely help people with mental disabilities to a great extent,” she said.

She added that the more psychiatric medicines added to the list, the better things will be for many people who rely on them.

During the Wednesday conference, Health Minister Saad Jaber highlighted that the committee will continue revising the prices of medication periodically, stressing that the cost of medical products is “not fixed” and will continue to decrease.

The minister underscored that the committee will review the prices of approximately 6,000 to 8,000 medicinal products this year, and that the price list will see further reductions.

Last week, during a meeting with Prime Minister Omar Razzaz, Jaber and Obeidat, the King issued directives to take immediate measures to reduce the prices of medication, stressing that “when it comes to Jordanians’ health and their medication, there can be no compromises”.