The situation concerning the shortage of drugs that appeared in the national hospitals at the beginning of this year hasn’t been yet fully solved, but was considerably improved, the Ministry of Health says in the response to an inquiry made by IPN.
According to the Ministry, problems in the supply of drugs arouse owing to a number of economic and financial factors and to the management in the health system as well as to the fluctuations on the currency market, the poor motivation of the drug suppliers to honor their obligations, the moderate penalties stipulated in the contracts for the supply of drugs and consumables and the credit debts of a number of hospitals. The created situation cannot be an excuse for the managers of medical institutions, who inappropriately used the funds and planned the drug stock.
After the inspections carried out at a number of hospitals, some of the irregularities were removed. Currently, the medical institutions have the necessary drugs and consumables, even if some of them are supplied in lower quantities.
Asked how such a situation can be prevented, the Ministry of Health said the revision of the drug prices formation policies and of the methods of purchasing them from public funds is one of the objectives of the Ministry of Health for 2015. The normative framework is being improved so as to prevent such situations in the future.
There were worked out a series of amendments to the regulations concerning the purchase of drugs. These refer to the economic entities that supply pharmaceutical products and to the medical institutions. The World Bank selected a series of public authorities, including the Ministry of Health, to pilot the open contracting mechanism. An interdepartmental group was set up to assess the problems related to the mechanism for approving and registering the producer drug prices based on the European practice.
The Ministry also said that the pharmaceutical market of Moldova is influenced by the trends on the European, Asian and CIS markets, such as the rise in the prices of raw material and in the costs for energy, and by other factors. According to the data of the regulatory authority from this field, more than 300 drugs included in the State Register of Drugs haven’t been imported into the country for over three years. The large drug producers that supply medicines to the CIS market limit the registration of producer prices in Moldova so as not to affect their price policy for the CIS countries, which are larger than Moldova.
Contacted by IPN, the president of the Association of Druggists of Moldova Maria Cojocaru-Toma said a part of the drugs disappeared from drugstores owing to a number of reasons. A part of the medicines grew dearer and, as a result, the demand for them decreased, while others cannot be imported because the producer price for them hasn’t been yet set. Some of the drugs are absent because they are being registered or certified. The producer prices are annually revised and included in the National Register of Drug Prices. Only afterward can the medicines be imported.
