As we note in today’s speed round, the health ministry is backpedaling to address significant price gouging after it moved to let manufacturers raise prices on low-cost compounds, Al Shorouk reports. The Health Ministry had instituted a 20% price increase for compounds under EGP 30 per pack and also added an extra EGP 2 to compounds sold at under EGP 10. The problem is that compounds are priced both by package and by blister pack. For some producers, the blister packs cost under EGP 10, and multiple packs of it are included in one box. Manufacturers applied the EGP 2 hike to each blister pack, sending the cost per box into the stratosphere. Case-in-point is Rivo, a cheap, widely-used analgesic whose tablets were sold separately for EGP 0.75 and a box for EGP 15. The EGP 2 increase was applied per tablet, bringing the price of a box to EGP 55 as a result. The doctors’ syndicate acknowledged the unintended consequence of the policy shift and the increase in the prices of compounds targeting the poor. It called on the government to revisit and revise its decision, according to Al Mal.