Private pharmacies are facing a supply shortage of infusions and several medications for blood pressure. The Pharmaceutical and Medical Distributors Association has blamed the Ministry of Health, stating that the price regulation has set low prices for these medicines.
For more than a month now, pharmacies in Pristina and other municipalities have faced a shortage of saline solutions, NaCl, and glucose.
Pharmacists from several pharmacies visited by KOHA said, on condition of anonymity, that the shortage of these infusions has occurred after the price regulation law came into force in February.
The shortage of products has also been confirmed by the Kosovo Chamber of Pharmacists. The president of the Chamber, Kadri Bytyqi, said that the shortage of medications is making the work of pharmacists more difficult.
“As the Chamber, we have been saying for two or three months that with the illegal decision of the Ministry of Health, the presence of medicines on the market would decrease, and a few days ago, we said that this is just the beginning of these shortages, which could lead to an even worse situation, but I don’t think it should come to that,” said Bytyqi.
In addition to infusions, there have been shortages of several blood pressure medications in pharmacies.
The Pharmaceutical and Medical Distributors Association of Kosovo has blamed the Ministry of Health, stating that it has set very low prices for these medicines.
“We are aware of the significant shortage of medicines in the private sector due to the extremely low prices approved (below the supply price) by the Price Declaration Commission at the Ministry of Health, which has made it impossible for suppliers to maintain a permanent supply and import these products. In the meantime, the Ministry of Health has issued a new decision allowing pharmaceutical distributors or importers to apply for price changes, and we believe that this will greatly help us continue supplying and normalizing the market in general,” reads the association’s written response.
The association also stated that the problem lies in the existing stocks in pharmaceutical warehouses, for which the Ministry has not provided any deadlines or alternatives for selling at old prices.
“These stocks were purchased earlier, for which taxes were paid to the state based on the prices paid/paid, and therefore they cannot be sold below the cost of supply, resulting in significant financial losses. As an association, we have repeatedly requested through written requests and public responses from the Ministry of Health to provide a period of 3-6 months for clearing the old stocks from warehouses and pharmacies. Once the old stocks are cleared, we can begin importing products at new prices (where possible and feasible),” the response states.
KOHA inquired with the Ministry of Health regarding the shortage of infusions in pharmacies and whether the companies and pharmaceutical warehouses that have suspended supply have been identified, but no response was received.
The Ministry emphasized that, based on inspections, pharmacies have begun implementing the price regulation law.
“Shortages in the free market may be caused by products that have not declared a price within the prescribed deadline and therefore cannot be sold by pharmacies without an official price. The Ministry of Health, by decision, has opened a period for declaring the prices of products that did not have a price, are new products, or for changing the price of products for which the price has been set,” reads the Ministry’s written response.
Based on the official list, the Agency for Medicinal Products and Devices has set the prices on the labels of medicinal products for new imports.
