The national producers and importers of drugs and pharmaceutical preparations plan the supplies in accordance with the diseases typical of the season. Usually, the largest volumes of flu medications are stocked for December-January, when the number of flu cases is the highest. The topic was raised by the Medication Agency's director Boris Golovin at a meeting. “There is no flu epidemic in Moldova, but the people get into a panic when they see a program on TV and rush to the drugstore to purchase by 20 bottles of oxoline and 50-60 protection masks,” Golovin said, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. Boris Golovin also said that a lot of drugs, including those that are not used to treat viral infections, have been bought from the drugstores located in districts bordering Ukraine. “In Moldova, they purchase the protection masks for 1 leu on average and sell them in Ukraine for 15 Hrivnas apiece. Even in Chisinau, they speculate in masks, selling them at prices that are 3-5 times higher.” The administration of the Medication Agency had a meeting with economic entities that produce and import drugs. The participants stressed that the supplies must be refilled and the barriers to the import of drugs should be removed. “The medication testing laboratory will work round the clock, but we anyway need a week to replenish the supplies as we cannot allow unchecked medications to enter the market,” Boris Golovin said. He also said that the drugstores have about 200,000 bottles of oxoline. There is a national drug that has the same qualities as oxoline, called bio-r. “The people do not know about it. We have gripcold, remantadin and anferon. We have millions of syringes and antibiotics to treat complications.” A number of specialists attending the meeting said that such popular methods as eating of onion and garlic are good, but cannot substitute the medical preparations. One should consult the doctor immediately after experiencing flu-like symptoms.