Prohibiting abusive contracts to purchase expensive drugs

Although it has been highlighted by health officials that this budget is described as insufficient, they have also stressed the fact that the Ministry of Health has for years bought drugs more expensive than their real price on the market.

Since the last war in Kosovo, the essential list of drugs has never been able to complete overall.

This year, many contracts signed for years with pharmaceutical companies that have supplied this sector with drugs have been terminated.

One time, public health institutions have experienced a collapse in terms of supply. The saved sum, however, has reached the value of 6m euros.

The debate over the drug supply for public health institutions at multiple prices higher than real ones has been current for years.

The health sector has been pointed to as one of those who might be considered very problematic.

This is also said by representatives of the “Institute. Columbus”, one of the organisations that has been dealing with corruption investigations supported by the American Embassy in Pristina and the embassies of Quint countries.

They have said that essential drugs purchased by the Ministry of Health, due to administrative directives and laws in power, have contributed to Kosovo's budget spending from 10 to 2,000 percent more financial means on buying a drug compared to the real price on the market.

Researcher at the Institute of '%lumbus, Saranda Ramaj, told Radio Free Europe, that although some of the abusive contracts the Health Ministry had in store for medicine, the situation has not yet been monitored. According to her, Kosovo continues to have no capacity to measure the quality of medicines, and also no document regulating their purchase legally.

It's good news that the Health Minister has refused to sign contracts that were abusive. However, no stability has been provided in the purchase of drugs since it is an administrative guide, which the Ministry of Health and Minister Ursil Ismaili have promoted very much as good administrative guidelines, which I agree with, but we still have no signature on this directive since April”.

This directive implies that pharmaceutical companies can still abuse at prices, since there is no legal basis that regulates the bidding of pharmaceutical companies at price in public tenders, exactly at the Ministry of Health”, she stressed.

As another problem, administrative instruction is mentioned, which does not envision the minimally low price for drugs, which is estimated to be as problematic as the maximum price, since it can be abused by bringing low quality drugs that do not exceed quality filters.

This later removes a product of a more prestigious quality product from competition. We've had the case with the Shemodialis Clinic, where the supply company is from Bangladesh and the quality is unknown to”, Ramaj said.

In the Ministry of Health said that although the final report of savings has not been released, about 6m euros have been saved by the interruption of contracts the ministry has had in the past.

Albattri Matoshi, media adviser to the minister of health, also indicated that administrative instruction, which legally regulates the purchase of drugs, will soon be signed after the necessary procedures have been carried out.

Looking at the irregularities that have occurred with the purchase of drugs, the Health Ministry has taken concrete action, creating an administrative guide that regulates the price of medicines in the country. This guide is in conclusion, we've sent it to public hearing, we've received comments, and now we're in the final phase of”.

Then the MSH will then have a guide that legally regulates the purchase of drugs in our country. All the contracts that have been changed have been signed at lower prices and the savings of the money is around 6m euros, although the detailed complete report” has not yet been made, Matoshi suggested.

Meanwhile, Kosovo University Clinical Hospital Service Director Basri Sejdiu in an interview for Radio Free Europe said that in terms of the drug supply, the situation has improved.

“From the essential list of drugs, the supply currently is about 70 percent and 50 percent of the saving material, but it always has to improve the situation. Several contracts the Ministry of Health for drug supply have been due to expired terms, until others exceeded”.

There have already been several contract cuts due to the budget, price higher than real, and from all of this we have had a benefit, we have had budget benefits due to the cuts of these contracts. It's caused some vacuum, but the drug supply situation is going up. With these contracts cut short, the benefits in the budget have been around 6m euros”, Sejdiu said.

However, drugs even in Kosovo's drugs do not have unified prices. This, according to institutional officials, is because Kosovo does not have an administrative regulation that could regulate the issue. They say that the price washing of drugs is obvious, and this is because of the free market that exists in Kosovo.

Also, drugs can be sold in Kosovo's drugs, including narcotics and psychotropope without the doctor's prescription. That is what senior institutional officials themselves say, in which the issue will be regulated with the introduction of the Law to health insurance.