The statement, released yesterday by SES, is in response to a price decrease of 2,750 medicines that will go into effect on Dec. 4, which will leave many pharmacies strapped for cash as medicine that has already been bought at higher prices from pharmaceutical companies will need to be sold for the newer lower price -- sometimes less than half the previous price.
The statement criticized the recent developments in health policy in the name of cost cutting, stressing that “an approach that increases check-up costs, puts a price on primary care, withholds rights from health workers and transforms public hospitals into businesses will not cut costs but rather create a catastrophe in the health sector.”
“These new implementations in the name of cost cutting will lead to 7,000 closed pharmacies, a loss of jobs and restricted access to health services for citizens. As a solution, instead of nationalizing pharmacies we want pharmaceuticals to lower their prices and subsidize the losses incurred from the new lower prices,” added the statement. “We, the 24,000 pharmacists who want to continue providing health services to our citizens, want the catastrophe-creating cost-cutting measures to stop. We will not be subject to footing the unjust bill for these measures,” stressed the statement.
International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) President Kamal Midha has sent a letter to Health Minister Recep Akdağ, asking him to support pharmacists by not putting them at risk for closure as a result of these harsh regulations.
Midha, who met with Akdağ at the 69th International FIP Congress in November, sent a letter regarding the new price changes for medicines, noting that this regulation would not only affect pharmacists but also the public at large. “If this situation endangers pharmacists’ businesses, then it will affect the services that patients receive, and patients may lose trust in their pharmacist. I ask that if steps are to be taken, we tread carefully. If you would like your decisions to be successfully implemented, it is important that you consult with pharmacies linked to the Turkish Pharmacists Union [TEB]. I respect the decisions that your government has made, but as FIP president, I would like to respectfully say pharmacists are vital to the public health of a nation.”
