60% of the Medicines Imported in Bulgaria from EU Member States Are Re-exported

Some 60% of the medicines imported in Bulgaria from EU Member States are re-exported later on, representatives of Hipofiza (Pituitary) patients association said on 3^rd of January. Patients from the association have suffered the consequences from the illegal re-export and for a year and a half they could not find the medication they needed. According to the data they requested and received from official institutions, it appears that two thirds of the companies exporting medicines do not notify the Bulgarian Executive Agency for Medical Drugs.

Vanya Dobreva says that a specific medicine, according to the information they received at the medical drugs agency, only one company, the largest exporter, announced 384 times that it intends to export a medicine for 9 months. Which means that even half of the intentions are realized, this is the company that leaves our patients without medication. This is one of the companies, she added.

Comparing the official data received from the Customs and the National Revenue Agency, it turns out that the companies importing and exporting their medicines are interconnected.

None of the companies registered in BDA has a contract with the company that imports our medicines. These are other companies, probably of the same people, she said.

Dr. Stoycho Katsarov of the Centre for the Protection of Rights in Healthcare says that If this is really the information they have, that means they have no idea what's going on with the records and their payments. Obviously, the information systems in our healthcare are in a catastrophic state, no idea what's going on with the drug market, he said.

Moreover, according to data received from patient organizations, the export of medicines is not to the value of 400 million, but to the value of 1 billion and 500 million. Therefore, the government's ideas of monitoring exports and stopping them as needed, according to the patient organization, will not work. They therefore propose other measures.