The Egyptian Pharmaceuticals Trade Company (EPTC), one of the companies affiliated to the Holding Company for Pharmaceuticals, Chemicals, and Medical Supplies, addressed the Ministry of Health to repay a debt of EGP 1bn owed by the ministry.
A source in the company told Daily News Egypt that the EPTC is committed to providing all the ministry’s needs, including pharmaceuticals and baby formula during this fiscal year, despite the continuous increase of the debt owed by the ministry.
The source added that the company is carrying out negotiations with the Health Ministry in order to schedule the payment of the debt over the upcoming period; however, the method of payment has not been decided yet.
“Increasing the purchases of the Ministry of Health, including baby formula, and the pharmaceuticals distributed by the company, has led to an accumulation of the debt and its increase to EGP 1bn,” the source explained.
He noted that over the upcoming period, the company will be seeking to negotiate with a number of government agencies to collect debts worth EGP 500m.
Ashraf El Sharkawy, Minister of the Public Business Sector, called on the EPTC during the general assembly meeting to collect its dues which is owed by government agencies, especially with the debt’s increasing volume and the company resorting to borrowing large amounts from banks to cover its financial needs.
The source expected the company’s debts owed by other agencies to increase over the upcoming period if no fair scheduling to repay the amounts was reached.
The accumulated losses of the EPTC have made Sherif Al Sobky, its managing director of branches and pharmacies, to submit his resignation earlier this week.
After his resignation, Al Sobky told Daily News Egypt that the upcoming period requires lots of efforts from the company’s side to address the crisis of increased debts.
The holding company’s board of directors agreed to appoint pharmacist Tarek Abdel Rahman as chairperson of the company after Adel Tolba who recently resigned due to the losses. The position of the managing director is still vacant after Al Sobky’s resignation.
