The Health Ministry will begin implementing its digital tracking system to monitor the distribution and sales of meds by the end of the year, deputy head of the Federation of Egyptian Industries’ pharma division Riad Armanious said yesterday, according to Masrawy. The system, which is meant to help prevent locally manufactured products from being smuggled for exports and ensure expired meds are recalled from the market, will require local pharma manufacturers and distributing companies to enter a barcode into the database for every medication in the market since 1 January of this year, Health Ministry official Rasha Ziad said earlier this year. The ministry had announced its plans to create the database last year, after it struggled to keep expired meds off the market following its decision to implement price increases.

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