Pharmacists: Price hike decree postpones issue of ‘non-availability’ of drugs for 3 months, only
While pharmacists stated that the decree determining the prices of medicines and the profitability ratio of pharmacists would not solve the problems, president of Ankara Chamber of Pharmacists said, “60 percent of pharmacies are using loans because they have reached the point of closure. 50 percent of pharmacies also use multiple loans.”
Yesterday, the euro/TL exchange rate used for drug pricing was increased by 25 percent to 7.86 with a decree and the profit rate of pharmacists was also increased.
Recently, the difference between the current euro TL exchange rate, which has been round 17-18 and the exchange rate level, which is used as the basis for determining drug prices, has led to problems in the supply of drugs, especially during periods when the exchange rate rises. This situation caused the unavailability of some drugs for most of last year.
The Association of Research Pharmaceutical Companies (AIFD) stated that Turkey did not have access to 79 percent of new drugs approved in Europe and called for a reorganization of its pricing policy. The Pharmaceutical Industry Employers’ Union had requested an update four times a year instead of once.
On the other hand, the President of the Ankara Chamber of Pharmacists, said that this hike did not solve the problems in the pharmaceutical market, it only provided a temporary solution.
He also said: “Almost 20 percent of the drugs have a problem of not being available. A 25 percent raise would solve part of that problem. However, we think that this problem will manifest itself again in November. So, in November, some drugs may not be available again.”
Stating that the regulations continued to confront pharmacists and patients, he noted following: “We also see that the on-credit ledgers are getting to be more in use. Patients have difficulty paying patient participation fees and examination fees. But we would like to underline that we want this problem to be solved, rather than a hike in the drug.”
