Drugs will grow cheaper, but not for everybody

The medications will become cheaper, but not for all the people. The executive Monday introduced amendments to an earlier Government decision on the formation of the prices of medicines and other pharmaceutical products, Info-Prim Neo reports. The profit margin of 15% will not be used anymore by the Drugs and Medical Devices Division and its branches that are subunits of the public primary medical assistance and sanitary institutions. Minister of Health Larisa Catrinici said that the decision was made on the basis of the Government Program, which provides for the cheapening of the cost of medicines in order to improve people’s access to efficient and inoffensive drugs of a high quality. “Presently, the medical-sanitary institutions have sufficient resources to supply the state-owned drugstores with everything they need,” the Minister said. “As we are in an economic crisis, the measures aimed at reducing the prices by decreasing or even canceling the profit margin are strictly necessary.” There are 36 drugs sections and over 1,000 branches opened by the state under family doctors centers in rural areas. The private drugstores will not reduce the prices of medicines. There are no state-owned pharmacies in Chisinau and others towns of the country, except in hospitals. The private drugstores can use margins of up to 25% of the selling price of the drugs.