The changes are necessary because medicines in neighboring countries - Lithuania and Estonia - cost significantly less than in Latvia. The pharmaceutical industry remains opposed to the changes envisaged by the Ministry of Health.
New pricing model for medicines
From now on, pharmacies will have a fixed mark-up per pack of medicines:
- 50 cents for medicines costing up to €2,
- for medicines between €2 and €100 - €1.2,
- for medicines costing more than €100 - €2.
Currently, pharmacies can mark up the price of medicines by a percentage of their own, together with wholesalers. The change will allow pharmacies to become more independent from wholesalers - they will be able to earn from the service fee instead of being dependent on the wholesaler.
This promises to reduce the cost of prescription medicines by around a fifth.
The pharmacist's service will now cost €1.50 per prescription, of which 75 cents will be paid by the customer and the same by the state. By contrast, in smaller pharmacies, the price of a prescription will be €2.50, while the patient will pay the same 75 cents and the state €1.50.
"If we look at prices up to three euros, there may be some cases where medicines will become more expensive because there is a service charge for the prescription, which regardless of which pharmacy one goes to - in the countryside, in the city - is the same everywhere. For a patient, the prescription service charge is 75 cents," explained Inese Kaupere, Director of the Department of Pharmacy at the Ministry of Health (VM).
Minors and the impoverished will be exempted from this fee. If a medicine is prescribed for several months, the prescription will be charged only once.
Kristīne Jučkoviča, Executive Director of the Latvian Pharmaceutical Care Association, said that the industry has still not changed its mind about the fact that this pricing model is incomplete and should be postponed for at least six months. There are many uncertainties and unfinished business on the part of the state, such as how the VAT applied will change and whether pharmacies will lose out.
"We are also concerned about pharmacies in the regions, because this situation where pharmacists are the first healthcare professional available will not always be able to continue, because at the moment there is a fundamental anxiety and instability in the sector about what the future of pharmacies will be, including financially," said Jučkoviča.
She also said that this decision would reduce the availability of medicines in the country, as there is already a shortage of medicines in Europe, and this reform would, in the opinion of the association, exacerbate it.
