What's going on with the pharmaceutical market in Kosovo

Currently, there is a shortage of drugs, which are registered by the Kosovo Agency for Medical Products.

Pharmacist Shkumbin Jusufi, at the same time chairman of the commission for pharmaceuticals from the Oda of Kosovo pharmaceuticalists, says the pharmaceutical market is in great chaos. According to him, there is a serious shortage of vital drugs in the country, adding that up to 60 per cent of registered drugs are not brought to Kosovo by pharmaceutical companies.

Everything depends on the distributor. If you want to, you bring in the stuff, in this case the medication, and if you don't, you don't bring it. No one penalizes it, no one controls”.

Out of 3700 forms of drugs recorded in the AKPM, about 40 percent are imported, until about 60 percent of the drugs are not imported at all, no one is accountable for the job. The consequences are the lack of drugs in the market, smuggling, then there is the pharmacist, who falls terribly in poor standing”, Yusuf says.

Even citizens say the lack of drugs is obvious.

Mentor Haliti, a citizen from Pristina, tells Radio Free Europe that he often faces the problem of finding drugs on the market, while adding that he often buys them in countries in the region, whether for himself or even for family members.

There's a shortage of drugs that I've been looking for myself. I myself have used some blood - pressure drugs and what I haven't found, I've replaced them all the time. Even for a family member who has sought medication for diabetes, the doctor has preferred some of the most effective drugs used abroad, but our market does not. But, actually, the doctor here describes”, he says.

There are some other drugs you can find in Serb-inhabited locations in Kosovo, such as Gracanica or Shtrpce, but the bill does not release the drugs there, to suggest that they are illegally introduced by Serbia”, Mentor Haliti relates.

Meanwhile, Arrian Ahmeti from the Kosovar Agency for Medical Products tells Radio Free Europe that the lack of drugs occurs because Kosovo has small markets and no institutions has the legal right to force any company to bring the drug to Kosovo.

Distributive companies, according to him, view Kosovo as a small market, so they do not express interest.

All depends on pharmaceutical companies. The market in Kosovo is small and pharmaceutical companies usually look for large markets. We as AKPM, have quality control, as well as drug registration. We record the drugs as an institution, but we and no one can force companies to bring specific drugs to Kosovo, because we have no legal basis. That's why shortages happen. All depends on the business plan for how pharmaceutical companies do it”, Ahmeti says.

Otherwise, the government of Kosovo has imposed a 100 per cent tax on all imports from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, which include drugs.

Even so, pharmaceutical field professionals say most drugs from these countries have already been replaced, but that Kosovo continues to face the problem of registered drugs and those already registered, if not imported.