CAIRO — For months, Egypt has been experiencing medication shortages. Popular types of imported contraceptive pills were among the first to disappear from pharmacies and move to the black market, causing concerns in a country already experiencing overpopulation, rising fertility rates and a severe economic crisis. Al-Monitor found evidence of illegal stockpiling of medications in anticipation of a significant government-mandated price increase to be partially responsible for the shortages.

The foreign contraceptive pills Gynera, Yasmin, Yaz and Microlut cost 30, 39, 65 and 16 Egyptian pounds ($1.60, $2, $3.40 and $0.80), respectively, until the price hike goes into effect, in comparison with the 1 and 4.5 pound prices ($0.05 and $0.20) for the Egyptian-manufactured Microcept and Triocept. In February, 15% of all domestic medications and 20% of imported medications will see price increases of between 30% and 50%, and another subset will undergo an increase in July.

In a conversation with Al-Monitor, Adel Moussa, a prominent pharmacy owner in Mohandessin who asked to go by a pseudonym, discussed his struggle in dealing with import shortages and black market demands. “The importing company tells pharmacists that they are out of stock of contraceptives, such as Gynera and Yasmin, because of problems on the foreign market. In reality, they are waiting for the government to raise prices based on the new worth of the US dollar.”

SoficoPharm — the private corporation responsible for importing the popular foreign contraceptive pills Gynera, Yasmin, Yaz and Microlut — has not distributed contraceptives to Moussa’s pharmacy for months. Every time he attempts to place an order, a representative tells him that the company is out of stock due to import issues.