"Greece’s continuing high level of spending on medicines is a striking example of the broader problems facing the country as it battles under international pressure to cut public expenditure and rein in the nation’s debt,"
..../...
As a result, the number of drug wholesalers, doctors and pharmacists per capita is among the highest in the OECD club of rich nations, each with incentives to encourage medicine use. There were no guidelines on which drugs should be used, nor systems to assess their cost effectiveness.
Low official wages created a temptation for physicians, who would attract fee-paying patients by falsely categorising them as pregnant women who are exempt from the normal requirement to help pay for their drugs.
Corruption remains widespread, according to doctors, pharmacists and medical suppliers, with direct bribing by suppliers.
.../...
Patent-protected drugs have been sold to the Greek health system in high volumes at prices which are relatively low by EU standards. One consequence was more than €850m last year in “parallel exports” of medicines bought cheaply by Greek pharmacists and resold abroad. The government responded in recent months by banning foreign sales of some medicines after domestic supplies ran out.
Once patents have expired, the lack of any requirement for Greek doctors to prescribe cheaper, generic versions means patented drugs still represent nearly 80 per cent of total prescriptions in Greece, compared with less than 30 per cent in Germany. Yet generics were traditionally sold at relatively high prices, with very low discounts to patented drugs. Even after recent reforms, they are typically only a third cheaper, compared with lower rates of nearly 90 per cent in the UK.
.../...
Entradas
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario