2024-04-01 20:31:23
“3/4 of the oncology drugs that doctors prescribe, patients don’t need.” The above was announced today by the Minister of Health Adonis Georgiadis at an event of the Panhellenic Association of Pharmaceutical Industries in Tripoli, on the occasion of the three new factories that are already being built in the Industrial Center of the region, as part of the ambitious investment program of the domestic pharmaceutical industry.
According to the minister, the Union of Oncologists of Greece has requested the activation of the oncology councils in the hospitals, in order to put a “brake” on the thoughtless prescribing that costs millions of euros every day, thus increasing the pharmaceutical expenditure. Mr. Georgiadis meaningfully emphasized that Oncology Councils will soon be established in hospitals as proposed by the Hellenic Pathological Society.
The Pharmaceutical expenditure, the minister added, is constantly increasing and innovative treatments are extremely expensive. If we can’t regulate Pharmaceutical spending, eventually patients won’t have the medicines they really need. With reference to drug shortages, the minister said, among other things: “Cheap drugs are a wrong policy. Cheap medicines are sold below cost, that’s why we have shortages”.
In fact, Mr. Georgiadis gave as an example lithium, a cheap and effective drug for manic depression and migraine: “We had lithium from two companies and one left because its price was too low and was replaced by a more expensive one. This whole policy is changing so that we have the medicines at the time we want them,” said the Minister of Health.
Mr. Georgiadis also referred to the reckless expenditure of IFET, which from 25 million has reached approximately 270 million.
He spoke about intensifying control, cooperation with the agencies involved and transparency.
He announced changes and price increases so that old, cheap, tried-and-tested drugs are not lost from the market: “And this cannot continue,” he said, adding: “If you can’t get your pharmaceutical spending right so that there is fiscal space for the very expensive innovative treatments patients will not find their medicines. We have to have money to be able to buy medicine.”
He also noted that in 15 days a broad meeting of representatives of the Greek and foreign pharmaceutical industry will be held at the Ministry of Health to discuss the clawback which has reached unimaginable heights, with a direct impact on the reduction of drug production and, by extension, on the patient.