“The risk of counterfeiting is increasing because demand is high, and the people who engage in this practice are not idle,” the president of the group, Pierre Hugues, warned.

He drew people’s attention to the lack of control on the borders, as a result of which the smuggling of medicines will increase.

Hugues explained that Haiti depends on some 70 percent of the imports of this type of product.

Now the ports and airports are closed or dysfunctional due to the constant incursions of criminal gangs, a fact which will prevent thousands of patients from continuing their treatment and the whole health sector will be affected by the consequences, due to the lack of supplies and medicines, Hugues commented.

“Of 216 laboratories that officially supply pharmacies in Haiti, only three are in the country, the 213 others are abroad. If they do not find a way to send medicines to Haiti, the agencies will not be able to supply the pharmacies,” he said.

Local laboratories, one of which is inactive due to insecurity, and two others are operating below maximum capacity, cover between 25 and 30 percent of the domestic needs, according to Le Nouvelliste.

Hugues deplored the burning of more than a dozen pharmacies in Port-au-Prince by gangs in recent days.

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