2023-08-08 11:57:00
More than 300 drugs are in short supply in our country. According to a study by the consumer association Test-Achats, 43% of households have already been confronted with this type of unavailability. In 6 out of 10 cases, this has an impact on the health of patients.
Quentin has been a pharmacist for two and a half years, and he notices the absence of certain medicines for the patients of a pharmacy in Namur. “In general, people are not happy. It’s on us that it affects us. We can’t help it. People don’t always understand what makes sense because we’re supposed to have the medicine. We don’t doesn’t actually live it very well”, he confides.
Amoxicillin, Nurofen, Ibuprofen and other drugs are currently lacking in our country. This year, 43% of Belgian families find themselves confronted with these shortcomings. For the Test-Achats consumer association, this is much more than their last survey, which concerned just under 29% of households.
“For new products, it is linked to the practice of quotas and parallel trade. Pharmaceutical firms will limit the number of drugs they deliver to wholesalers to prevent wholesalers from exporting these drugs abroad where they can get a very attractive price”, explains Julie Frère, spokesperson for Test-Achats.
A very concrete impact was observed for 60% of those questioned, ranging from stress to the increase in side effects due to the substitution treatment.
To anticipate, manage and prevent the unavailability of medicines, measures have been taken by the Minister of Health, Frank Vandenbroucke. But for Test-Achats, we must go further. “The drug shortage cannot have a financial impact on the patient, who must be able to benefit from the same reimbursement as if he were taking his conventional drug. The cost of the drug shortage must be billed to the pharmaceutical company and not to the patient “, concludes Julie Frère.
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