Government set to open state-run drugstores

Drugstores will soon face an increased number of competitors. “We will do everything possible to establish the necessary state-run network of drugstores in Ukraine. We are studying this question at the moment,” Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said. But will this step help resolve the problem of short supplies and retail prices? Most importantly, how soon will this happen?

Deputy Head of the State Affairs Directorate Rostyslav Valikhnovsky considers it a good idea to create a state-run network of pharmacies, which in the future will make it possible to do away with undue fears over shortages and price hikes. When asked by The Day about how much time is needed on average to open a drugstore, he responded that “considering the Ukrainian red-tape mechanisms, it will take up to three months.”

On his part, Mykhailo Pasichnyk, the head of Ukraine’s Professional Pharmacists Association, said that the country already has communal drugstores and the state-run Medicines of Ukraine drugstore network. However, their share on the internal market is small. Of course, the state has the right to develop its own system of pharmacies and can do so, but Pasichnyk believes that the main question is to overcome shortages.

According to him, drugstores want to sell medicines, but the procurement storehouses simply don’t have any. On top of this problem, virtually all drugstores are inspected by five or six agencies on a daily basis (the police, State Tax Administration (DPAU), Anti-Monopoly Committee (AMKU), quality control inspections, etc.). They check whether the prices are not raised unduly and whether anti-flu medications are available. If any violations are found, the pharmacies may be deprived of their licenses.

Tetiana Bakhteieva, head of the VR Committee for Health Protection, said many drugstores may disappear because of this kind of inspections, carried out by law-enforcement bodies. Although the Association of Pharmacists has not confirmed any facts about closures due to these measures, some pharmacies told The Day on the condition of anonymity that this scenario is not ruled out. Using different pretexts, such as repair works, drugstores may close for a while in order not to lose their license. “It is one thing is when a drugstore sets a large markup, but can we be blamed when we don’t have any possibility of buying these medications?” a drugstore employee said in anger.

Valikhnovsky does not approve of severe punishment for shortages either. In his opinion, strict control measures regarding the cost of medicines should be gradually implemented so that the intermediaries did not hike up the prices. “It is said that one Tamiflu capsule costs 100 hryvnias in Ternopil, so we should combat this phenomenon. Ukraine’s Anti-Monopoly Committee should deal with this,” Valikhnovsky told The Day.

The AMKU responded that they are working on it. “Our employees have started checking 37 Kyiv retail drugstores, and we have faced the problem of drugstores blaming wholesalers for the high prices, whereas the latter blame manufacturers for everything. Therefore, we are going to verify the established facts, sort out these questions, and make a resolution,” said Viktor Korol, head of the AMKU Kyiv City Department.

Bakhteieva said there are no grounds to blame pharmacies for raising the prices. Prices for medications are established by suppliers, whereas the drugstores may increase them by 30 percent at the maximum, she explained.

While the DPAU, AMK, State Price Inspectorate, and State Customs Service are looking for profiteers, the prime minister is criticizing the sluggish work of these departments. Ukraine’s General Prosecutor’s Office has opened a criminal case based on the results of a check into how the Ministry for Public Health had spent budget money allocated to fight A/H1N1 flu. It alleges violations of the rules for epidemic prevention and neglect of official duty that led to severe consequences.