The situation in pharmacies is tragic – thousands of patients are at risk due to a lack of medicines

Schools have opened, and gradually the viruses that appeared in the fall are knocking on the doors of many homes. However, pharmacies are out of stock of some medications, such as children’s antibiotics, eye drops, insulin, and even anticoagulants for patients with cardiovascular diseases.

According to the Mega report, 140 drugs are already in short supply. “To find a cure, I have to travel half of Thessaloniki and half of Chalkidiki. This situation has been going on for a year now,” a city resident told the camera. Many are forced to travel several kilometers to get the necessary drug, since there is now an obvious shortage on the market.

“Essentially, they are looking for drugs that are not in their prescription, instead of trying to be consistent in their treatment,” the pharmacist told TV channel reporters. Currently, 140 drugs are in short supply, making life difficult for patients. “There are shortages of drugs in all categories: from eye drops, pediatric and adult antibiotics to insulin and anticoagulants,” he said.

The Ministry of Health has begun to ban exports, but some categories of medicines, for example, children’s antibiotics, still have problems, mainly due to the lack of active substances. “There will be a shortage of some antibiotics this year,” said Irini Markakis, secretary of the Greek Pharmacy Association.

It is noted that Health Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis announced creating an application with the help of which doctors and citizens will be able to find out in real time from their mobile phones which drugs are in short supply, he instructed to keep records of drug stocks in pharmacy warehouses.

The Panhellenic Association of Pharmacies yesterday asked the Minister of Health to intervene to ensure transparency and immediately lift the ban on the export of more than 130 drugs, the shortage of which is present in the domestic market.

Let us emphasize that in today’s Two factors are to blame for the shortage of drugs on the market. On the one hand, the strategic and systematic undersupply of the market by some multinational companies, and on the other hand, problems with the production of active substances due to the concentration of all production capacities in Asian countries.

We also note that today Greece is in a privileged position compared to most European countries, thanks to its strong domestic pharmaceutical industry, and therefore there is no basis for any ban on the export of drugs; generics are available. “It should be noted that we have repeatedly informed government authorities in writing that at least 90 drugs out of 280 prohibited are in excess in pharmacy warehouses, and another 54 have an abundance of reliable Greek generics,” the president reports, in particular.

On Monday 9 October, the Minister of Health, speaking at a medicines conference, announced the creation of an online electronic system in which all parts of the drug supply chain will be “transparent”, and it will be clear what is in excess and what is in short supply. And accordingly, further decisions on supplies will be made.

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