Al-Riyadh
If you walk in the streets of Riyadh and other Saudis cities, you will notice a large number of pharmacies everywhere. It is as if the majority of Saudi people are in dire need of medicine. Pharmacies outnumber grocery shops.
Take for example Onaizah Street in the east of Riyadh. This street is 30 meters wide and three kilometers long and has two lanes. There are over 10 pharmacies located on this street alone. In other countries, you see one pharmacy in each neighborhood.
I have traveled a lot and have never seen one single street crammed with so many pharmacies the way they are in Riyadh. I cannot help but wonder why we have this huge number of pharmacies. The Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) answered this question when it posted a video about differences in the price of medicine.
Sometimes prices are multiplied tenfold due to an absence of official control over prices. Some medicine can be bought for SR40 from abroad but it is then sold in local pharmacies for SR500. The problem becomes even more complicated if an individual company monopolizes a particular type of medicine.
This is daylight robbery and explains why we have such a large number of pharmacies on our streets. Sometimes you see three large pharmacies located in the same neighborhood. It is as if medicine is a daily necessity like food.
Pharmacies make huge profits. That is why there are a large number of them across the country. A colleague of mine who is a pharmacist confirmed that pharmacies generate enormous profits. He said some pharmacies work even on weekends and for 12 hours a day to maximize their profits. The SFDA posted a video showing some of its inspectors pointing at some medicine that was being sold for SR375 while its original price, as displayed on the SFDA website, was SR28.
The SFDA has for the last three years called on the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Commerce to give it the responsibility to supervise and monitor pharmacies, but both ministries have yet to respond to these calls although the SFDA has proved that it plays an important role in protecting the public against greedy pharmacies.
It is high time that the SFDA was given full powers to monitor the sector and ensure the price of medicine is not manipulated.
