Medicines’ price increase

11/01/2012 00:00

If the fiscal stamp on pharmaceutic products would be established on the factories
of their production countries, the price would increase, due to the
cost.

This has also been confirmed by the medicament importers, who say that their price has increased due to the 10% VAT imposed on 2011, which is paid by the citizens.

“There will be more cost, but I cannot say the exact amount of it, since I don’t know the production price of the stamp. There will be other payments during import. The medicaments’ price increased only because of the 10% VAT, which is directly paid by the citizens”, declared Kastriot Zotaj, medicine importer.

Import businessmen are not against the double stamp tax imposition, but they ask the government to consult them before taking such measures. According to them, the fiscal stamp will be produced by a private company and no one knows its price, while there are other costs too.

“The double stamp will cause problems to the business and will empty the market. If this stamp will continue to be produced at the National Center of Medicament Control, it will be easier for the business. But we have heard that the stamp will be produced by someone else, and we will have to take it and send it to the European production plants. This will be difficult, because the production plants in Europe do not place stamps”, Zotaj declared.

After the warning by the Order of Physicians for another price increase, the Health Ministry declared that the stamp has an insignificant cost and that the price increase warnings are abusive.

Ministry opposes Order of Physicians

The Director of the Medicine Control Center, Besnik Jaku, opposed the declarations of the Order of Physicians for increasing the medicaments’ price with 20%, due to a new fiscal stamp.

According to him, the cost of the stamp will not affect the prices, but will simply control the pharmaceutical market.

“The stamp has a very small cost, slightly higher than the current one, which will not affect the medicaments’ price. This double stamp offers more safety and quality. The current stamp has a cost that is paid by the importer and the producer of the medicaments, and is not related with the sale price. The new stamp will not change the medicaments’ price”, Jaku declared.

According to Jaku, the medicaments’ price has never increased and will not increase, but the Order of Physicians is trying to spread panic, because they object the market reforms undertaken by the Health Ministry for the Pharmaceutics.

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