Greece is facing a serious shortage of medicines amid claims that pharmaceutical multinationals have halted shipments to the country because of the economic crisis and, as The Guardian reports, concerns that the drugs will be exported by middlemen because prices are higher in other European countries. Rubbing further salt into the Greek (un-medicated) wound, the Red Cross slashed its supply of donor blood to Greece because it had not paid its bills on time.Pharmacies in Greece describe chaotic scenes as clients desperately search from shop to shop for much-needed drugs. Greece’s Pharmaceutical Association said “around 300 drugs are in very short supply,” adding that “It’s a disgrace. The companies are ensuring that they come in dribs and drabs to avoid prosecution. Everyone is really frightened.” The fear for the multinationals remains that wholesalers can legally sell to other nations at higher prices and a “combination of Greece’s low medicine prices and unpaid debt by the state.” Lines form early and ‘get very aggressive’ one pharmacy exclaimed, “We have reached a tragic point.”
Via The Guardian,
Greece is facing a serious shortage of medicines amid claims that pharmaceutical multinationals have halted shipments to the countrybecause of the economic crisis and concerns that the drugs will be exported by middlemen because prices are higher in other European countries.
Hundreds of drugs are in short supply and the situation is getting worse, according to the Greek drug regulator. The government has drawn up a list of more than 50 pharmaceutical companies it accuses of halting or planning to halt supplies because of low prices in the country.
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