Morocco Faces Critical Shortage of Zinc and Vitamin C Amid COVID-19 Surge

Zinc and vitamin C, which are two molecules prescribed in the treatment against Covid-19 according to the protocol established in Morocco, have been out of the market for several months. Confirming this deplorable situation, Chama, a pharmacist working in the Hay Moulay Rachid district of Casablanca, says that "there is no more zinc or vitamin C, it is a total shortage, we receive them drop by drop", reports h24info.ma.

According to Mohamed Lahbabi, president of the Confederation of Pharmacists’ Unions of Morocco (CSPM), these two molecules were not so much in demand before the pandemic. The two laboratories manufacturing vitamin C and the only one producing zinc are unable to meet the very high demand at a time when there is a considerable increase in Covid-19 cases.

Faced with this situation, Mohamed Lahbabi expresses his despair. "We are asking the ministry to supply the market with vitamin C and zinc, so that we can meet the needs of the population to whom we are left to ourselves. The pharmacist is the last link in the chain, he is the one who finds himself facing the citizen who does not understand why he is not given the medicine when the ministry has communicated on its availability," he storms.