Prices of drugs expected to decrease slightly

The Government decided to cancel the barcode labels stuck on the packing of medications. Such a move will lead to an average decrease of 7-8% in the prices of drugs in a month or two, Info-Prim Neo reports. Viorel Chetraru, the head of the Center for Combating Corruption and Economic Crime, said these labels were conceived as an element of the automated information system for monitoring the authorized medications. Because of a shortage of funds, 110 rural drugstores were not connected to the system. Thus, the system does nor work in the planned way. After the barcode labels were introduced, the prices of drugs increased by 0.28-0.43 lei. In 2008-2009, the Medication Agency allocated over 65 million lei for printing the given stickers. It was established that the orders to print the labels were placed with publishing houses that belonged to persons close to the former Communist administration. When the labels are annulled, some of the drugs might be cheapened by even 20-30%.