The Lebanese health minister, Dr. Hamad Hasan, raided on Thursday in Zahle and other Bekaa areas drug warehouses and pharmacies involved in smuggling medicines to foreign countries, closing them with red wax upon the indications of the Appeal General Prosecutor in the Bekaa, Munif Barakat.

Dr.Hasan stressed that the pharmaceutical mafia started collapsing, indicating that the health ministry obtained critical data about monopolizing large amounts of medical drugs among pharmaceutical shortage across the country.

Lebanon has been suffering from shortage of medical drugs in the pharmaceutical market after certain operations of monopolizing and smuggling medicines became widespread due to the instability of the national currency’s exchange rate.

Source: Al-Manar English Website