Syria's Democratic Years by Kevin W. Martin

Author:Kevin W. Martin [Martin, Kevin W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Published: 2015-04-18T22:00:00+00:00

MODERN PHARMACEUTICALS AND GLOBAL CAPITALISM

This was the message to the people when Sabri al-Qabbani used to talk about how one could get beyond magic and superstition and work with effective drugs and scientific medicine.

—HANAN QASSAB HASAN, February 27, 2002

One of Sabri al-Qabbani’s signature practices, dating from the beginning of his journalistic career, was the long-distance formulation and presentation of diagnoses, often followed by the dispensation of prescriptions by mail.19 This was, in fact, a principal function of his two most popular columns. For example, “Mr. Nasir Bushi from Hama” wrote complaining of symptoms that suggested tonsillitis. Al-Qabbani appeared to accept Mr. Bushi’s self-diagnosis, for without further comment he immediately summarized the contemporary debate within the medical community about the efficacy and wisdom of tonsillectomy, and then stated that he recommended “in any event” injections of penicillin and streptomycin “provided that they are administered for ten consecutive days.”20

Here we encounter another characteristic feature of al-Qabbani’s correspondence with his readers, endorsing courses of treatment including powerful and potentially dangerous drugs. In addition to strong antibiotics, al-Qabbani also recommended various hormones, appetite suppressants, intestinal parasiticides, anabolic steroids, anticonvulsants, barbiturates, amphetamines, and analgesics containing opiates, to name but a few.21 In both his columns and his exchanges with readers, al-Qabbani frequently recommended specific medications identified by brand name. This tendency found perfect expression in an article entitled “How to Set Up Your Home Pharmacy.” Therein al-Qabbani advised homemakers to stock their medicine cabinets with sixteen brand-name products, including analgesics, laxatives, antacids, sedatives, antidiarrheals, orally and topically administered antibiotics, antihistamines, and cough suppressants.22 This practice became more prevalent with the appearance of “Your Doctor Is at Your Service.” For example, in one of the earliest issues of Your Doctor, “H. H. from Jabla” wrote complaining of “the smallness of her breasts.” After describing a home remedy involving the frequent application of hot compresses, al-Qabbani recommended a compound “manufactured by Séréno,” available in the form of “pills or injections that contain the hormones of the mammary glands and the ovaries” that can “facilitate the enlargement of the bosom.”23

The most frequent beneficiaries of such “name-checking” were Europe’s postwar pharmaceutical giants: Schering, Wander, Bayer, Hoffman–La Roche, Pfizer, Glaxo, Parke-Davis, and Roussel.24 Al-Qabbani’s frequent punctuation of his diagnoses with exhortations to use the products of specific manufacturers raises the larger issue of his relationship to global economic forces. The significance of this concern is accentuated by many of the same manufacturers’ repeated purchase of advertising space in Your Doctor.

On average, 15 percent of the pages in each issue featured at least one advertisement for a multinational drug manufacturer or distributor, its prescription or nonprescription medications, or various internationally marketed “health” products like Ovomaltine (marketed as Ovaltine in the United States), Eno Fruit Salts, Evian mineral water, and Johnson and Johnson’s Baby Powder.25 Furthermore, many of these advertisements appeared as inserts printed on thick, glossy paper featuring multicolor processes. Such expensive reproductions rarely appeared in Syrian periodicals during this period.26 Conversely, Your Doctor rarely featured the smaller, more crudely executed,

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