Every third Russian faces a shortage of drugs in pharmacies

Among those residents who had difficulties buying drugs, 17% said that the necessary drugs simply are not in pharmacies, another 10% note an increase in drug prices, 9% say that there are no antibiotics and antiviral drugs, another 2% could not buy antipyretic and pain relievers. 1% each stated that they could not buy medicines that they take constantly, that there are too many medicines in pharmacies, in particular antibiotics, are sold by prescription, and the analogue offered by the pharmacist turned out to be ineffective. In addition, pharmacies do not have thermometers and vitamins, show data from a survey of the Fund "Public opinion".

The shortage of drugs in pharmacies is observed after the authorities introduced mandatory labeling of drugs from July 1. It was introduced to combat counterfeiting. However, due to system malfunctions, pharmacists could neither accept the new product for sale, nor sell it to customers. Antiviral drugs and antibiotics were especially in short supply, the demand for which increased dramatically this fall, during the new wave of coronavirus. Then the Ministry of Industry and Trade temporarily transferred the marking system to notification mode.