Editorial: Pervasive medicine shortages
Pharmacists have long described the matter as the country’s most significant public health issue.
Many patients desperately seek much-needed medicines but are unable to find them due to major shortages.
The opposition has raised the issue in Parliament.
Those in the know say that the shortage derives from the fact that medicines warehouses export to other European countries where they can get a higher price.
The state’s first reaction was to ban the parallel export of medicines of which there is a shortage.
The health minister in late November said that the government is threshing out a comprehensive solution to the problem.
The plan provides that if there is a shortage of a medicine it will be sold only with an electronic prescription, and warehouses will have to report their sales.
It is crucial that these measures be implemented immediately.
Patients who have faced many hardship must at long last find the medicines they need on pharmacies’ shelves.
It is the duty of all involved to put an end to this unacceptable situation.
No one has the right to play games with the health of citizens.
The state has a duty to ensure that the profit of the few does not endanger the health of the many.