Mr. Xanthos argues that “it’s not a question of managerial inadequacy. It’s a question of neoliberal ideology about the supposed ability of the market to regulate itself without strong government intervention.”
The head of the Health Department of SYRIZA-PS assigns responsibilities to the government for the shortages of daily-use medicines, Andreas Xanthos. “The warnings of doctors and pharmacists for more than a year have not moved anyone,” he says in his statement and adds: “The Mitsotakis government is following, as in the energy and inflationary crisis, the same failed ‘recipe’: it does not intervene early and aggressively in the market, invokes the international dimension of the problem, and then, when the situation gets out of hand, is forced to take piecemeal, incomplete and therefore ineffective measures, such as the belated and flawed ban on parallel exports”.
Mr. Xanthos argues that “it is not a matter of managerial inadequacy. It is a matter of neoliberal dogma about the supposed ability of the market to regulate itself without strong government intervention. But it is also a question of the influence of business interests in the field of private pharmacies that profit uncontrollably and “regularly, making available abroad preparations at much higher prices, which of course the domestic market lacks”.
It reports to the Minister of Health, Thanos Pleuris, saying he “boasts that he shut down 2 pharmacies that refused inspection. What about the rest of the pharmacies? When will they be checked? What are the findings of any audits that have been carried out? And IFET (the state pharmaceutical warehouse, which has to cover the country’s needs with medicines that are in short supply with imports from abroad) what exactly is it doing in the face of such an unprecedented shortage of basic medicines? Or is it “not in time” because it (IFET) also deals with illegal drug exports, as reported by SYRIZA-PS to the Prosecutor?
He accuses the government and the Ministry of Health that “their reflexes are tragically inadequate, putting Public Health at risk”. He then proposes: “The only drastic solution today is the indefinite ban on parallel exports of preparations that are in systematic shortage and the real-time control of pharmaceutical warehouses by the EOF, the strict observance of the obligation of pharmaceutical companies and pharmaceutical warehouses for three-month stocks as well as the creation of a “national stockpile” of vital drugs such as antibiotics, analgesics, antituberculosis, etc. Mr. Xanthos concludes: “The pandemic proved that the “free market” does not work in conditions of a health crisis and that patients’ unhindered access to the necessary medicines is a fundamental social right that the State can and must ensure with strong state intervention. Against which the Mitsotakis government is “allergic”. The change of course in political matters is now vital and for … reasons of Public Health!’
RES-EMP
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