Prosecutor's Office asks Health Ministry to conduct inspections re shortage of medicines in hospitals and chemists’

The Supreme Administrative Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) referred to the Minister of Health, the Executive Director of the Executive Agency for Medicines (BDA) and the Director of the National Revenue Agency (NRA) asking them to organize and conduct inspections to check if there are shortages of medicines in hospitals and pharmacies in the country.

SAPO opened an enquiry based on information in the media, alleging that there is a serious shortage of certain medicines in pharmacies.

The assigned inspections are supposed to identify whether there is a shortage of medicines in the hospitals and pharmacies in the country and if so - whether the shortage is due to their retention by holders of authorisations for use, manufacturers, importers, wholesalers of medicinal products and active substances, intermediaries in the field of medicinal products, pharmacies and drugstores, and then to take specific measures.

The inspection is also looking into whether there is an increased export of medicines that are vital to the system. If such is the case, the Ministry of Health (MoH) must take immediate measures to minimize or compensate for the shortage of medicines in hospitals and pharmacies in the country.

The administrative prosecutor’s office received data from the Ministry of Health on companies holding authorisations for wholesale trade in medicinal products, which may carry out such actions.

Assistance for the purposes of the inspection along this line for the identification of the companies should be provided by the NRA.

A report with summarized information from the inspections must be sent to the SAPO as soon as possible, the prosecutor's office added.