The suppliers of medicines and medical consumables that will not obey the clauses of the contracts signed with medical institutions will be punished harsher. In its February 25 meeting, the Cabinet approved relevant amendments to the regulations concerning the purchase of medicines and other medical products, IPN reports.

The economic entities that will not supply the medical institutions with the products stipulated in the contract will have to pay a penalty of 50% of the contract’s value, not of 5% as now. If the buyer is not informed about the impossibility of supplying the drugs within 15 calendar days, the seller will pay a penalty of 5% of the value of the contract. A penalty of 1% of the goods’ value will be imposed for every day of delay in supplying medicines and medical products, as against 0.1% now.

Minister of Health Mircea Buga said the hospitals are now supplied with the necessary drugs.

At the beginning of this year, a number of companies refused to supply medicines to the hospitals at the price stipulated in the contract following the depreciation of the national currency. The shortage of drugs in hospitals was also discussed in the February 21 meeting of the Government, which was called by Prime Minister Chiril Gaburici after he visited two of the largest medical institutions of the country. Also then, it was decided to work out a new framework contract for the suppliers, with harsher penalties for those that do not fulfill their obligations.