The Romanian Association of International Medicine Manufacturers (ARPIM) said on Friday in a statement that the swift withdrawal by the Ministry of Health of two draft bills on the claw back and the pricing of drugs hit the country’s healthcare reform.
The draft bills were published on February 26th on the website of the Ministry of Health for public debate and withdrawn next day by interim health minister Nicolae Banicoiu
“The first ordinance, referring to the claw back would see authorities pledge an eight percent increase in the drugs’ reimbursement budget for the second half of 2014. This budget was closer to the real treatment needs of patients and would have allowed the treatment of a bigger number of patients, avoiding the well-known waiting lists,” said Calin Galaseanu, ARPIM’s president.
“The second draft bill regarding the pricing mechanism would have represented a positive signal in ensuring the availability of drugs on the Romanian market,” he added.
The association expressed its concerns regarding the transparency of policy-making, especially because the draft bills were withdrawn from public debate in the period when observations and comments could have been submitted.
Producers of generic drugs have challenged the bills, claiming they put the brakes on new investments and reduced the access of patients to cheap drugs.
Ovidiu Posirca