Pharmaceutical company Actavis will be sending about 600,000 packs of medicines, worth over €2 million, to Libyan hospitals.

Daniel Vella Friggieri, from Actavis, said the company contacted the Libyan health ministry to determine what types of medicines were mostly needed as the country battled with casualties of the civil war.

The Maltese branch then sent out a request to all its European offices that shipped several consignments to Malta to be sent to Libya. The company collected 170-pallets-worth of about 22 different medicines that treated heart and gastrointestinal conditions as well as pain relievers and anti-infection medicines that could be administered intravenously.

Mr Vella Friggieri said that 20 per cent of the products being sent were manufactured in Malta. He was speaking at the Civil Protection Departments' humanitarian aid stores in Marsa where the medicines are being kept.

CPD director Patrick Murgo said the department had contacted the World Food Programme that, weather permitting, will be sending a ship to Malta on Sunday to pick up the consignment. The cargo would be taken to the port of Tripoli from where members of the National Transitional Council would take it to hospitals.

Mohamed Sayeh, a senior member of the council, thanked Malta for its help while Health Minister Joseph Cassar said the island was always happy to help during such moments.

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