Patients complained to Putin about the shortage of 42 drugs

Their shortage is due, among other things, to the fact that they were included in the recommendations for the treatment of patients with coronavirus, and this led to increased demand.

According to Izvestia, the RUO is confident that it is necessary to increase the funding, increase the production of domestic drugs and substances, as well as change the mechanism for regulating the maximum selling prices for medicines from the list of vital and essential medicines (VEM).

“In a number of cases, replies to official inquiries from specialized NGOs were either not received, or contained information that this problem did not exist”, - says Yury Zhulyov, co-chairman of the SCJ.

Among the scarce 42 drugs are vital for the treatment of cancer and cystic fibrosis, for patients with multiple sclerosis, rheumatic diseases, primary immunodeficiency and other diseases.

Problems with the availability of drugs have become aggravated since September 2020, the RUP notes. According to Zhulyov, this is primarily due to the distribution of drugs between patients who need them in connection with the coronavirus. This applies primarily to antibiotics. The RUP co-chairman noted that today, for example, the same drugs that are taken for cystic fibrosis are being treated for COVID-19.

Earlier, activists of the All-Russian Popular Front (ONF / RPF) conducted raids on regional pharmacies and revealed an acute shortage of antiviral favipiravir.

Earlier it was reported that over the past two months, every third Russian (35%) said that he was experiencing difficulties in buying drugs.

Note that the shortage of drugs in pharmacies is observed after the government introduced mandatory labeling of drugs from July 1. Due to malfunctions in the system, 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.