A staff member works at the Main Pharma factory in Damascus, Syria, on Nov. 21, 2019. The first cancer pharmaceutical factory was inaugurated in Damascus on Thursday, promising high-quality products that will cover 70 percent of the local needs. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua)
DAMASCUS, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- The first cancer pharmaceutical factory was inaugurated in Syrian capital Damascus on Thursday, promising high-quality products that will cover 70 percent of the local needs.
A statement released by the factory said that it will produce chemotherapy, which will be the first production of such kind in Syria and the Arab world.
The factory is located in the Industrial Adra city, 40 km north of Damascus.
Contracts have been signed with leading international companies to have similar high technology in producing and analyzing according to international standards.
Adnan Jaafo, executive manager of the Main Pharma factory, told reporters at the opening ceremony that opening the factory is major progress in the Syrian pharmaceutical production.
He noted that the primary materials are being imported from several countries around the world, including China and India.
"It's the first pharmaceutical factory to produce medications to fight cancerous tumors in Syria, known as chemotherapy, and is the first one in the Arab world in terms of the use of the most advanced technology and production lines," he said.
He added that the production will begin this year and by the first three months of next year, new types of medicine will be produced.
"Starting in the first months of next year, we will begin with producing eight kinds of the aseptic filling line and eight kinds of capsules' line," he said.
By the end of next year, he added, "we would have already produced 20 types of each production line, which covers 70 percent of the medication types locally."
Jaafo said that the factory has faced hurdles in terms of the economic sanctions imposed on Syria, but managed to overcome difficulties through cooperating with foreign companies and the support of the Syrian government institutions.
Syrian Health Minister Nizar Yazigi told reporters that opening the factory is a good start for doing more in producing specific types of medications that have not yet been produced in Syria.
"It seems to be a good start and I wish that we would be manufacturing more qualitative medicine for cancer as well as vaccines as this is a part of the working plan of the Health Ministry," he said.
The minister added that a total of 69 pharmaceutical factories are operating in the country, covering 93 percent of the local needs.
During a government meeting last month, Yazigi said that since the beginning of 2019, over 25.7 million health and medical services have been provided to citizens at the ministry's hospitals and centers.
He said the ministry's reconstruction operations have covered 37 hospitals and 238 health centers.
He pointed out the fact that there have been no epidemics in Syria throughout the years of the war and the factory is "an achievement and a miracle."
