Cairo -

Have you ever thought about treating your teeth without anesthetic (anesthetic), or at least under the influence of a weak anesthetic?

If you feel pain just thinking about it, you will definitely understand the complaints of doctors and patients in Egypt about the lack of dental anesthetic during the last period.

A number of Egyptian dentists spoke on social media about the suffering they incur in order to buy the drug used to treat patients, in light of its gradual disappearance from the market over the past months, until the crisis reached its climax during the past days, and some clinics stopped working.

Over the past 3 months, statements came out from officials of the Dental Syndicate explaining the causes of the crisis, while preaching the imminent provision of narcotic products needed by private clinics and public hospitals.

But it seems that the union’s efforts were not in a way that pushes to solve the crisis, which was implicitly expressed by the spokesman of the Dental Union, his admission - during televised statements last week - that the drug shortage crisis is still ongoing, and has even reached its severity during the past days, “and the matter has reached Some clinics close their doors due to a lack of anaesthesia,” he said.

In addition to the production of two local factories, Egypt relies on imports from Spain, in addition to a French company, in providing dental anesthetics.

There is currently a problem with dental anesthetic that the country has not experienced before. In fact,


all the strong effective anesthetic is an imported anesthetic


that has stopped esters, and the supply is very little and at astronomical prices.. The only available Egyptian anesthetic is unfortunately very weak, and the one who treats his teeth during this period will feel pain and inconvenience during work. big 🙁

- Amrou .

(@PhobiaMad) April 13, 2022

A pack of dental anesthetics costs 1,000 pounds, from it to God, Yasser Jalal!

— Badly Decayed Mamdouh (@Mamdohzzz) April 5, 2022

Doctors' experiences

A number of dentists resorted to social media in order to explain the problem they face, due to the lack of anesthetic that they mainly rely on in their work.

They explained that the quantities of the drug available in the market are very few and sold at very high prices, noting that the available type is the locally made, and it is weak in effect - according to their description - which leads to patients feeling pain during treatment sessions.

I was a speaker with the dental materials company and a distributor of anesthetic boxes when the company was still available. The company called me at 400-450 and the distributor was 290 in the same box 🤪🤪

— Nassiif (@Omar_Nasef) April 11, 2022

My friend, the dental supplies dealer: I know that the situation is difficult, but bring me an anesthetic canister on top of each other.

— Hassan (@ahmedkhedr129) April 11, 2022

I follow my colleagues and groups on Facebook. For months, they have been talking about a major dental crisis in Egypt. For the first time, there is a Colombian anesthetic in Egypt. There is a real disaster in dental supplies.

— ♌MoHaMeD 🦅⚓️ (@MESH1580) April 15, 2022

This is currently available at the Egyptian Company for Pharmaceutical Trade https://t.co/JZ3XS20vBD pic.twitter.com/S2U9onNshj

— Khaled Nassef (@Khaled19742020) April 13, 2022

For their part, a number of patients interacted with the doctors’ posts, confirming that they had had a painful experience in dental clinics recently, due to the weak effect of the anesthetic they obtained during the treatment sessions.

Local media reported that the price of a can of drug increased from 250 pounds to 700 and 800 pounds (a dollar equals about 18.40 pounds), in addition to the lack of it from reliable sources.

The number of doctors registered with the Egyptian Medical Syndicate is about 75,000.

I was treating my teeth and Dr. Adani Ping is a Colombian, and this is a little cheaper than the Spaniard, and he said that the Alexandria Pharmaceutical Company stopped production two months ago and that there is a real crisis in importing with the Ministry of Health https://t.co/JOPIco0fFD

— HOSAM ALLAM🇦🇹🇦🇹 (@Eng_HosamAllam) April 13, 2022

In fact, the doctor was saying that we kept escaping the anesthetic, but it was like drugs, and the first session was for a Spanish ping, and the second session was for anesthetics.

— /blank (@nononoNovember_) April 13, 2022

In fact, I was close to the dentist and he said they are sending people from Aswan to take anesthetic from Al-Qasr Al-Aini and it is not even there.. I use the imported anesthetic and its price was very high than the first

— Moshera Mahmoud (@mosheramahmoud7) April 14, 2022

The nerve of the profession

In turn, the spokesman for the Dental Syndicate, Ahmed Massad, said that dental anesthetic is the backbone of the dental profession and a strategic element that no doctor can dispense with during his work.

He added - during televised statements - that the drug shortage crisis has reached its peak, and it has come to the point that some clinics are closing their doors.

He explained that the union addressed two local manufacturers specialized in the production of dental anesthetics, namely the Alexandria Company and the RT Pharm Factory, and added that the factories have a major crisis in raw materials manufactured for “anesthetic”, and therefore they are unable to produce the sufficient quantities that were produced before that.

On the cause of the crisis, he said that the company that was importing the Spanish drug had a shortage of imports, and "I do not have clear information; is the reason the lack of hard currency needed for import, or the lack of procedures with the Spanish company."

In press statements, the dentists’ spokesman explained that the rise in the price of the dollar exacerbated the crisis, pointing out that the union provided 4,300 boxes of anesthetics during the past month, and they were sent to the subsidiary unions for distribution to doctors, “but this number is very small given the needs of doctors,” he said. .

Last March, the Egyptian government raised the interest rate, which raised the price of the dollar against the pound, with an increase of about 3 pounds.

partial détente

Despite the continuation of the crisis on the ground, local media reported a breakthrough in the dental anesthetic crisis, with the start of distributing quantities to pharmacies affiliated with the Egyptian Pharmaceutical Company in Cairo and Alexandria.

And the local media reported yesterday, Wednesday, that the Egyptian Medicines Authority informed the Dentists Syndicate of distributing dental anesthetics through the 7 pharmacies of the Egyptian Pharmaceutical Company;

3 of them are in Cairo and 2 are in Alexandria.

For two consecutive months, the Head of the Dental Syndicate, Ehab Heikal, spoke of a breakthrough in the drug shortage crisis in private clinics and public hospitals, and the release of quantities of anesthetic to fill the deficit after the intervention of the Drug Authority.

He attributed - in press statements - the crisis to the Alexandria factory's stopping production without sufficient stock to meet the needs of the Egyptian market, appealing to the Prime Minister to release imported dental anesthetic shipments, stressing that there is no reason to prevent the entry of shipments in light of the severe shortage of the drug.

The cause of the crisis

The Dental Syndicate addressed the Central Bank Governor last week to try to solve the problem of transferring funds abroad in exchange for shipments of medical supplies, especially dental anesthetics.

The union explained - in a statement published on its official page on Facebook - that the reason for the recurrence of medical supplies crises is due to the requirements for opening bank documentary credits for importing companies, and the difficulty of procedures for transferring funds abroad, which takes a long time that may reach months.

The Central Bank had excluded from the banking requirements for importing vaccines, serums, strategic foods, and certain types of medicines, not including dental anesthetics.

In this context, the Executive Director of the Egyptian Center for the Right to Medicine, Mahmoud Fouad, said that the drug shortage is not a new crisis, but it is renewed at intervals.

He explained - in press statements - that for an unknown reason, the Egyptian Medicines Authority does not help in resolving the crisis, pointing out that the main reason for the drug shortage is the lack of monitoring of drug shortage cases, and therefore the speed of dealing with them, as well as the stoppage of the Alexandria drug manufacturer due to a plan its own development.

In a related context, the Egyptian Medical Syndicate warned of the continued reluctance of doctors to work in the government sector, as well as their increasing efforts to migrate outside Egypt, calling on the Prime Minister and the concerned authorities to intervene to correct errors and improve the health system in all its parties.

A few days ago, the union revealed the resignation of more than 11,000 doctors from working in the government sector since 2019, stressing that it had monitored the resignation of about 1,000 doctors within 3 months of this year.

Under the title "The Medical Syndicate is sounding the alarm," the Medical Syndicate warned of the obstacles to the stability of the health system, expressing its hope that this report will be the subject of a study to overcome the health system's difficulties, including the severe shortage of doctors.