Prices of 980 medications the Health Ministry is purchasing in a tender to supply public hospitals have increased by a margin of 20-50%, presumably as a result of the ministry’s decision in January to raise meds prices under pressure from the industry, Al Borsa reports. These price increases will not be passed on to consumers, and will instead be covered by the state under the national health insurance scheme, according to Central Administration of Pharmaceutical Affairs head Rasha Ziada.