“All pharmacies will be required to stock a certain range of medications. Commercial interests should not influence which pharmaceutical products are profitable or unprofitable to trade,” said Health Minister Mikheil Sarjveladze following the meeting of the Cross-Government Coordination Commission on Food Prices with representatives of pharmaceutical companies.
According to Sarjveladze, pharmacy chains should acknowledge that the issue of medicine shortages is part of public policy, and its regulation is necessary.
“The so-called essential medicines, which are vitally important, should be in the stock of any pharmacy. We will consider how we can protect citizens against such risks. We will need to introduce optimal methods that will practically eliminate such periodic deficiencies.
Regrettably, importers or pharmacy chains sometimes face obstacles in supplying medications. There is a leverage to ensure that in our legislation. However, there is always room to improve the system to evade such shortages,” Sarjveladze concluded.
