The Ministry of Health of the Government of National Unity announced its intention to form a multidisciplinary investigation committee to follow up on the source of the complaint related to (the supply of low-quality cancer drugs) and to limit the medicine used to the special batch numbers.
This came after the Scientific Committee of the Misurata Oncology Institute rejected drugs that were supplied from (India, Turkey, Cyprus, Malta) on the pretext that they were unknown to them and that some patients had developed their medical condition after using them previously through private companies, in addition to the appearance of side effects “stronger than before”, advising to supply medicine from internationally known companies.
In response to the committee’s statement, the Ministry of Health expressed its surprise at “the Scientific Committee’s failure to follow the correct scientific and professional methods when notifying the Pharmacovigilance Department through the reporting forms prepared for this purpose.”
The Ministry denied receiving any letters from the National Authority for the Treatment of Tumors, stating that the disease had developed in some patients as a result of their use of certain types of medicine or the appearance of any side effects in patients as a result of using certain types of medicine.
"A detailed report must be submitted that includes previous and current symptoms to be compared, otherwise this matter can only be understood as an irresponsible media escalation that is suspected of causing chaos and casting doubt on public institutions.” It said.
Regarding the fact that they are “unknown companies,” the ministry responded that “some of the companies mentioned in the letter have been registered with the Ministry of Health for more than 10 years (since 2014) and these companies are among the companies that Libya has relied on to purchase medicine for patients with (AIDS and hepatitis) for years.”
The ministry indicated that “this medicine was not tested by patients in private sector, as the companies denied to the ministry that they had supplied any quantity of medicine to the private sector in Libya."
