EgyptThis article has been translated from Russian language using an artificial intelligence-based translation algorithm. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the quality of the translation. You can read the original of this article in Russian here, and ask questions on the topic of our travel forum in English here.
One of the most popular purchases from holidaymakers in Egypt are local medicines. Experienced tourists visit local pharmacies during each regular trip and buy medicines in large quantities, some for themselves, and some at the request of relatives and friends. And the thing is that medicines in Egypt have a very low price, sometimes lower than at home, several times. The reason is that this area is strictly regulated by the state in order to make medicines available to the public, pharmacy vacations are made at fixed producer prices, and speculation on drug prices is prohibited. Well, here you can also buy prescription drugs in the Russian Federation and other countries without a prescription.
Another reason for the mass purchase of medicines in Egypt is the information that has been copied from one tourist website and blog to another for many years that Egyptian medicines are of the highest quality, since the death penalty is provided for their forgery. Unfortunately, we could not find official confirmation of this, but on the contrary, we came across information in reputable and online news outlets that there are big problems with counterfeit medicines in Egypt, and about a third of the Egyptian pharmaceutical market is counterfeit. And the punishment for violation is too lenient 20 000 – 50 000 Egyptian pounds or up to two years in prison. You can familiarize yourself with this, for example, Here or Here. We also came across many media reports about deaths in Egypt from the use and treatment of counterfeit medicines.
Therefore, we treat this information (that the medicines are of very high quality and the death penalty is provided) with doubt. This is more like a typical "tourist fake", when once written false information is copied from each other without verification by bloggers and low-quality copywriters of online publications. We even once made a selection of similar fakes, you can read for fun here.
But we do not dissuade anyone from buying medicines in Egypt, and we are happy to buy them there. Therefore, we will tell you in more detail how, where and what to buy from medicines in Egypt.:
How and where to buy medicines in Egypt
You can buy medicines in Egypt only in pharmacies, they are not sold anywhere else. Pharmacies are very common on the streets of resort towns. They can be found in any tourist and even non-tourist area. And what is very nice, even in ordinary residential areas there are pharmacies aimed at working with English-speaking and Russian-speaking tourists. you talk to the seller in broken english or good russian, you will be understood and answered everywhere.
But still it is better to choose the largest of the many pharmacies. And there are several reasons for this:
- Large pharmacies have pharmacists who will be able to recommend something to you on requests or find a replacement for a group of drugs. At the same time, ordinary non-specialist sellers can work in small pharmacies, who will offer anything out of place for all your questions, and we have seen this for ourselves on our own experience.
- Despite strict regulation and fixed prices, which are indicated on the boxes by manufacturers, small pharmacies still manage to breed tourists. To do this, information about the price is erased on the boxes, the price for the medicine is called in dollars at an unfavorable rate for the buyer, or even simply use the fact that tourists do not know how to find and read prices.
- Storage conditions for medicines in small pharmacies are not respected: they may not have a refrigerator, and boxes of medicines lie in the heat directly under the sun's rays.
- And finally, among the assortment of goods in pharmacies there are not only medicines, but also non-medicinal products, for example, toothpastes, shampoos, cosmetics, oils. Prices have not been set for them, and they will try to impose them at an inflated price.
And now a little more about the prices of medicines and how to read them
On each box or package of medicines manufactured in Egypt, the price is indicated on the box, and the goods must be sold strictly at this price. The price is in Egyptian pounds and is usually denoted L.E., but sometimes also in piastres as PT. For reference, one pound is equal to 100 piastres, i.e. it is an analogue of our kopecks. In general, we advise you to read more about the money of Egypt here...
Most often, the price is indicated next to the release date and expiration date, can be printed with paint or displaced. As a rule, it is not difficult to find it, but sometimes you have to twist the box a lot until you see it. As we noted, some cunning merchants cover up or erase this price, and if you see this, it's better to leave this pharmacy.
But we have come across medicines with prices not in the modern figures we are used to, but it looks like the old Indo-Arabic figures. For example, on a package of 96 Rennie tablets worth 55 Egyptian pounds (approximately 1.1 rubles) We found an inscription very similar to 55 Indo-Arabic numerals. It is problematic to determine this without knowing the numbers in Egypt, and therefore we advise you to read our article about numbers in Egypt.
How to pay for medicines in Egypt
In official pharmacies, payment at the checkout should be accepted only in Egyptian pounds and a check should be issued. In practice, you can easily pay directly in dollars or euros (but not in rubles), or pay for the entire purchase partly in currency and partly in Egyptian pounds.
But the question arises at what rate in the pharmacy you will be converted into currency. And the answer to it is always unambiguous: they will count at a rate that is unfavorable for you. Moreover, you can easily round up the cost of an inexpensive drug for 15 pounds to one dollar at the current exchange rate of 25 pounds per dollar. That's why we personally prefer to make such purchases after exchanging dollars for Egyptian pounds.
And here is a small life hack to check prices and plan your purchases! there are quite a few online pharmacies in egypt with good websites in russian. For example, here is the site - russkaya-apteka.com, which we use ourselves, and this is not advertising. On it, you can pick up the drugs yourself according to the description and place an online order, which will be delivered directly to the hotel or to the address. You can even arrange a transfer from any resort in Egypt to the nearest pharmacy of this chain for free. But the most important thing is that on such sites you can check the prices at home in advance of the trip and compare them with the "home" ones.
What medicines to buy in Egypt
The choice of medicines in pharmacies in Egypt is large - tablets, ointments, creams, balms, syrups, sprays, powders for the preparation of solutions, there are hygiene products, even cosmetics. It is better to prepare in advance a list of drugs that you want to purchase and prescribe their analogues, since the names of Russian drugs that are familiar to us, such as Citramon or Activated Charcoal, cannot be found here.
Here is a list of popular and inexpensive medicines by groups that can be brought from Egypt and which are significantly cheaper there than at home:
- Antibiotics - Augmentin (Augmentin), Septrin (Septrin DS), Ciprofloxacin (Ciprofloxacin), Cefzil (Cefzil) for children.
- Antipyretic and antiviral agents - Panadol (Panadol), Abimol (Abimol), Brufen (Brufen), Oseltamivir (Oseltamivir), Zovirax (Zovirax).
- From headache - Adol (Adol), Ketolac (Ketolac), Cetal (Cetal), Amigrain (Amigraine), Exedrin (Exedrin).
- From sore throat – sprays BBC (BBC) and Pedro (Pedro), lozenges Bronchikum (Bronchikum).
- From the common cold - Otrivin (Otrivin), Nasonex (Nasonex), Salinex (Salinex).
- From colds - 123, Dolo-D + (Dolo-D Plus), Panadol Gold (Panadol Gold), PowerCaps (PowerCaps).
- For muscle pain, rheumatism, arthritis - Ketolgin, Anticox, Voltaren.
- With diarrhea - Diax (Diax), Diasmect (Diasmect), Antinal (Antinal), Lacteol (Lacteol).
- From heartburn - Famotin (Famotin), Glycodal (Glycodal), Rennie (Rennie), Antodine (Antodine).
- From vomiting and nausea - Primperan (Primperan), Motinorm suspension (Motinorm), Motil Fast powder (Motil Fast).
- From spasms - Buscopan (Buscopan), Stopspasm (Stopspasm), Spasmofree (Spasmofree), Spasmomen (Spasmomen).
- For sleep disorders - Sleepez, Night Calm.
- With otitis media – drops of Otal, Viotic.
- In case of memory disorders, decreased attention - Stimulan (Stimulan), Cervitam (Cervitam).
- For liver diseases - Hepatocure (Hepatocure), Hepato-Forte (Hepato-Forte), Farcovit (Farcovit).
- Drugs for the heart - Dinitra (Dinitra), Cardiomep (Cardiomep), Ezapril (Ezapril).
- For joint pain, rheumatism, arthritis, injuries - Elcaptain ointment, Ketolgin, Algason cream, Bristaflam, Ketofan.
- Ointments for burns and wound healing – Pantenol, Calamil white clay lotion, Bepanten.
This list of drugs is incomplete, but we focused on inexpensive drugs, summarizing their purpose. Complete and accurate advice on medicines can only be given by the attending physician or pharmacist.
Viagra, a popular remedy for men, is also sold here, but the price is even higher than in Russia or European countries. But you can buy cheaper local counterparts Erec, Virecta, Durjoy and Cialis.