A reform in the medicines sector will be implemented in Moldova. The accumulated problems cannot be solved by sporadic measures. “We must review the whole legal framework. We must formulate three new laws: on the access to medicines, on the approval of prices and compensatory mechanism and on public health services,” secretary of state at the Ministry of Health Zinaida Bezverhni stated for IPN.

“The medicines issue has two aspects: physical absence and accessibility of those that exist. In 2013, we had over 7,000 registered medicines. Now we have 3,500 and 2,000 of them were registered officially. Intending to decrease the price of medicines, the state regulated the market so that it made drug producers not want to register medicines in the Republic of Moldova,” stated Zinaida Bezverhni.

The goal of the Ministry of Health is to attract back the producers of high-quality and inoffensive medicines so that they return to the market and register the preparations. “We have a group that is working on the formation of wholesale and retail prices in selling networks,” said the functionary.

Another aspect is the purchases made with state funds, which is what the National Health Insurance Company covers. The state annually raises considerably the budget of this Company. “Next year, the budget for compensating medicines will be of about 1 billion lei. A large part of this money is not used as the doctors do not prescribe medicines according to prescriptions. The compensation formula applied until now is inefficient. That’s why we will improve it as from November 1,” stated Zinaida Bezverhni.

She added that half of the medicines of the same category will be gratis, while the other half will be paid. The move is aimed at extending the range of medicines that will be available to patients.