Reducing medicines price will cause crisis in Algeria
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National Union of Pharmacists warned of the possibility of scarcity and interruptions of medicines, Chairman, Abdelwahid Karrar said, during his response to Echorouk question about the Health Minister, Abdelmalek Boudiaf, statements about reducing the price of drugs in the coming days.
Karrar said, during a press conference in Sofitel Hotel, which dealt with the reality of the national pharmaceutical industry in light of the threats of economic crisis, that the action was taken in light of the economic situation of the country and the decline of oil prices.
“Decision to reduce the price of drugs is good, and it was the first of its kind in Algeria. It is normal and is in force in many countries. Health Ministry intervened to exercise its functions in the field of control of the drugs’ market, late intervention but this late in a narrow time, as it should had put it before the deadlines of term renew the registration of medicines for the concerned to the end of 2014, and not wait until the new year to announce a similar decision, which suggests that the decision was taken suddenly and was not exposed in the past.”
“Negotiations will take time to reach a conclusion, in a time import and distribution programs must be ready to start working, which means that the patient will face a crisis in having a number of those involved drugs.”