State to loosen administrative grip on import substitution in pharmaceutics

At the most recent Parliamentary session, MPs bombarded Deputy Health Minister Viachelav Shilo with questions regarding Health Ministry regulation No 66, which changed the rules for issuing medical prescriptions and selling prescribed drugs by pharmacies ’’in order to improve the country’s drug supply, including to exclude self-treatment’’. With its actions, the Ministry aimed to pursue its strategy aiming to replace foreign drugs with their Belarusian counterparts. In particular, the regulation envisages that foremost, ’’doctors should prescribe drugs purchased within the state procurement programme’’. The HM regulation caused an outcry among the population, inter alia, among doctors due to the fact that the new regulation has made it more difficult to issue prescriptions and increased the burden on doctors. In addition, many health facilities and pharmacies have not been informed and are thus not prepared for this amendment. Most likely, the health authorities will be prompted to reconsider their regulation and to make some changes to ease the work of doctors, as well as the process of dispensing drugs.