Health Minister Ahmed Emad said that the cabinet during its meeting held Monday approved raising the prices of the local medicine by 20 percent which was determined by the pricing committee at the Health Ministry.

The step comes to encourage the production of local medicine which was stopped due to its high cost and to compete with the high-price of exported drugs.

In a press conference held at the cabinet headquarters on Monday, Emad underlined that 4,000 medicines are unavailable on the Egyptian market, adding that they are all local drugs.

The minister attributed this to the fact that the firms do not produce those medicines any more as their cost became more than its price, thus the patient buys drugs produced by foreign companies.

The decision will be enacted as of Monday, Emad reiterated, noting that the medicines will be provided in large quantities to fulfil the needs of the Egyptian market.