When the new Rulebook on control of prices of medicines, which was adopted by the Council of Ministers of BiH last week, becomes effective, between 5.000 and 6.000 prescription drugs should become cheaper.
Although it is currently impossible to predict the exact wholesale price of those medicines, the Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices of BiH published the estimated new prices of some of the medicines that will undergo the major change.
“Medicines in BiH will be cheaper as of February next year,” said the Director of the Agency Aleksandar Zolak. The reason why prices of medicines will be changed only two months from now lies in legally prescribed procedures.
“Rulebook will become effective eight days after it is published in the Official Gazette of BiH and we expect it to be published these days. After that, wholesalers have the legal time frame of 60 days to conduct preparations for introduction of new prices, and then the Agency has the time frame of 30 days to publish a new price list. However, we in the Agency will not wait for the 60 days time frame to pass, but we will do our part of the job simultaneously with wholesalers, so that the new prices would become effective as soon as possible,” Zolak said.
It should be emphasized that the Rulebook refers only to prescription drugs.
The listed prices are not the ones which will be available on the market because final price in retail sale depends on several factors. Primarily, prices of medicines in pharmacies depend on whether the drugs are on essential lists or not. The biggest difference will be felt on the drugs that are not on essential list and who price is fully paid by the consumers.
The Agency is in charge of controlling the work of wholesalers. Inspectors of the national Agency will check whether wholesalers have decreased the prices in accordance with the new rulebook. Prices in pharmacies should be controlled by entity inspection bodies. They must prevent the retail sellers from achieving extra profit by purchasing drugs at lower prices and maintaining higher prices in sale.
National and entity inspectors will also have the task of preventing the possible increase in prices of medicines.
“There are medicines whose price should be higher than the existing one according to the new calculation, but the Rulebook contains a provision which says that in that case the current prices must be maintained – there shall be no increase in prices at all,” said Lazar Prodanović, member of the expert council of the Agency.
(Source: faktor.ba)
