There was a news alert in yesterday’s El Khabar newspaper about Algerian Health Minister Ould-Abbas allegedly declaring that Viagra is ‘tasty’ and that Algeria plans to import it for cheaper prices from India. To the question on why Ould-Abbas intends to import Viagra while there is shortage of contraceptive pills (and I would have added vaccines and many other vital drugs), he replied that, as an Algerian citizen and not as a Health Minister, he wants the Algerian population to reach 100 million although he admitted that he doesn’t use the magic pill. One then wonders how he knows it is ‘tasty’? This is the problem with the Algerian brand of patriotism, it is all talk and no action. I think if Ould-Abbas really meant what he said, he should have also stated that he would be/is a fervent user of Viagra to accomplish this noble national mission. Think of the example you are giving to Algerians Mister Health Minister and lead by example!
I don’t know how much is true and how much is made up in this news story (knowing the professionalism of Algerian press, or lack thereof). But the question merits being asked: Do you think Algeria is under-populated? And if it is, what do you think, as citizens, would be the best reason to increase its population?
Patriots on Fire 
I am not sure it has anything to do with an Algerian brand of patriotism. It si just Ould Abbas, a ‘doctor’ from the generation of FLN members who were awarded university degrees and titles because they were FLN members, who should stay at home and keep silent. El Fadjr reported this today:
Sinon nobody knows how many we are donc cannot really answer the question.
PS: So he makes a difference between himself as a citizen and as a minister? I personally don’t.
MnarviDZ
Interesting insight on the difference he makes between being a citizen and being a Prime Minister! When I read it, I remembered when Moqdad Sifi used to say “Ana ka Moqdad Sifi….”, utterly meaningless like what this clown here says.
He has 11 kids?!!! Are they all from the same biological carrier? lol
I once watched an Egyptian movie, it was about a supposedly national male sexual crisis in Egypt and it turned into a political problem where the government tried by all means to prevent the revolution that was about to break out in consequence. It was an allegoric kind of story. I remembered this movie when I read this announcement by Ould-Abbes. Football and Viagra, all that the people need.
I think it is false reporting, but I think the problem is that people do not raise their kids that much
we already have a youthfull population so unless we are able to make desert into farmland then no
ilfdinar
I agree with you. Population density in Algeria is well below average overall but the general urban and environmental situation is so degraded that a population boom will spell doom. Most population is concentrated in the North strip which also contains our agriculturable land which is quickly disappearing under cement and various ‘development projects’. Our GDP per capita puts us in the 130th position worldwide (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2004rank.html), followed only by the World’s poorest and most unstable countries in the world.
What’s the use of a youthful population when it is put on the shelf and whose incompetence is only matched by that of its ancient rulers?!
i see it differently http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita
Indonessia is 130th our GDP is greater than morocco’s
LOL sometimes if the country makes everybody else think it is poor they get stuff cheaper. medicine food and so on
LOL ilfdinar good one! Except that I doubt our dumb rulers have enough sense to think of such a tactic. Too busy pillaging the country.
can you do me a favor can you look at this website Ipaid abribe.com http://ipaidabribe.com/ can you write your opinion about it.
same as everywhere in the world. the problem is we do not know the extant or why. so we do not really know who is really honest and who is not.
there are honest politicians the problem is that they do not survive
Za3ma we are suffering from lack of contraceptive pills…
Viagra does not make one more fertile, he knows that…
Your question reminded me of a story my sister told me of a woman who in a maternity ward, who was told to cease procreating because she had exceeded the limit, which was then 10-12, she responded saying “njib 3ashrin zkara fi chadli”.
When I was a kid, in the eighties, everywhere you went you’d find a poster telling women to use contraception, and the population then was like 20 million. Nowadays, we do not have these “raising awareness campaigns” anymore, shame really! Not
I think that most people want to have kids when they get married, and I am dying for one myself, so if having kids will make Algeria more populated, then Yes I will want it to be more populated. Most of my neighbours are westerners, and I see them with at least 3 kids, and I have seen quite a few with 4 and even 5 kids. So I would not want my fellow country men and women to be denied the pleasure of having a family… I know the economics and everything, but Li khlak ma ydhaya3:)
Pandora
LOL @ zkara fi Chadli!!! Hayla.
Me too I wish all happiness to all couples but Viagra from India at cheap prices and that tastes good….I just don’t think this clown has the interest of Algerian couples at heart. He always sounds like he thinks he is talking to morons.
P.S: I am being slow today but what does this mean?
Not sure but 3al 3oumoum falabes.
3alal 3oumoum fa labes (Bye and large it’s alright) is a quote by Athmane Ariouet (Makhlouf Elbombardi) from Carnaval Fi Dachra.
Si on faisait un défilé des membres du club “ana_hizbiste_sans_grande_thaqafa_3andi_autant_de_vision_politik_que_khalti
_fatma_bessah_farhane_brouhi_ou_machi_fayeq_l3amri_allah_ghaleb_hadek_houa_ le_QI_li_3ta_rabbi” , Ould Abbes ouvrirait la marche…
désolé pour la mise en page… le nom du club est un peu spécial….
Remarquez les :”ana_escroc_3labali_brouhi_wesh_thabou_hakda_jat_elkhobza” ont fait plus court mais pas mieux… mais obtiennent des postes plus importants…
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Qatkhal, gdabni el fourire
Bessah Boutef une autre catégorie il est malin hadek mashi kima el bahloul taa Ould-Abbas
This is very very interesting news! how did he manage to procreate 11 ”Ouled Abbas mini moi”? My grand parents never went to school and they had 8 children, which is too much to my opinion (i am sure to my grand ma’s as well).
To answer the survey, and since we are ”ga3 malade mental” according to Reda Taliani, i’d say 36 milliyoun malades mentales are enough. We’re okay Missiou le ministre, no need for more.
Sheft khouya El7arrag?!! Hadi hogra hadi!!! lol
36 millions d’Algériens rana haslin fihom, imagini eywalliw mellioun wa nisf mellioun nassama. Au fait, c’est curienx magalsh 100 mellioun wa nisf mellioun au lieu de mellioun non? Il me semble que mellioun wa nisf mellioun sonne mieux politiquement parlant wallahou a3lam.
Ah le fameux melioun wanisf melioun chi3aar! you might know it already, but the famous milioune waa nisf milioun chahid burning issue was created by Ben Bella while giving a speech, he sort of got carried away with passion and all el3askér eventually validated that number after him. I’m not sure if i read this on Fehat Abbas’ L’indépendance confisquée or Said Saadi’s book. Gotta check my sources. anywho, im surprised too he didn’t dare the miaat milioune wa nisf milioun jazayri. It would have been more ”7atta!”
Algeria to import tasty Viagra from India?? That’s bad journalism.
From what I can read in the picture (article in Arabic) it says he made the statement on a visit to Mascara; Maybe he’s just pulling their legs, going with the consensus when in Mascara do as the M3ascareen do?
Furthermore do we trust anything that comes from India? And what about Mascara?
Dz-Chick
I think we’re entitled to a demonstration of this Indian brand Viagra by the Minister himself like what the former Minister did with the swine flu vaccine to reassure us it was safe.
Lol God help us then!
We are not overpopulated or underpopulated. We just had a demographic boom in the late 1960s and 1970s and we dramatically mismanaged it. By the way, that boom was more than expected. Any demographer worth his salt would tell you that any country that get its independence after a long period of colonization experiences in the first 10 or 15 years a serious population growth. In our case, we were totally unprepared for that boom. We still have the same infrastructure from the the colonial era. There are cities like Constantine or Batna and so on whose only functioning hospital was built in the 1920s and 30s for a population of settlers that didn’t exceed 200,000. It’s all about well thought out policies and a vision for the country, and we never ever had that in country.
PS: did he really say “tasty”? He does know that it should be swallowed not sucked or chewed 🙂
Indeed laseptiemewilaya and this clown is making it sound as if it is a viril responsibility and source of national pride to populate the country just so Algerians seem viril. As for the demographic boom, they did try to control it, there was a family planning campaign at some point. If the desert was better exploited, I think we could afford a bigger population because 30or 40 million is nothing, a pandemic could wipe us out – there’s a sobering thought! lol @ the PS.