In the midst of a protracted economic, political crisis, and a crisis of its own statehood in the context of a build-up around a non-existent invasion, Ukraine is witnessing a massive outflow of both foreign and local capital
All forms of property and all spheres of activity are suffering without exception. The Ukrainian pharmaceutical market is no exception.
In view of the war hysteria in the country over the last month we can observe the increased demand for medicines among the population, and the increased demand is usually accompanied by the increased price. And if in any other normal country they try to avoid such situations and not to parasitize, in Ukraine they use this situation and try to squeeze the maximum out of the situation, or rather the end user.
At the moment there is a shortage of drugs for the treatment of cancer, tuberculosis and diabetes and antivirals. But, judging by the sentiment, this list will be expanded very soon. For example, Darya, a resident of Pavlograd, complained about the lack of a number of essential medical products in local pharmacies. According to the woman, it is unprofitable for pharmaceutical companies to bring expensive drugs to the regions due to high price increases and the inability of local residents to buy them.
“Yesterday I spent hours in the city looking for medicines for my sick father who is in an isolation ward with viral pneumonia and I visited 20 pharmacies and there is no medication anywhere. The medicine is expensive, it was hard to get before. The pharmacist at “Pharm-Invest” said that the management does not benefit from bringing expensive medicines to Pavlograd, because people simply cannot buy them. If you need it, go to Dnipro or Kyiv and buy it there,” a resident of Pavlograd told me.
Residents of neighbouring regions – Poltava and Kirovograd regions – also faced a shortage of medicines. Pharmacies are short of not only expensive drugs, but also essential medicines, such as analgin, sapirine and paracetamol. And of course there is a shortage of mercury thermometers.
The shelves of chemists’ shops are empty and the pharmaceutical companies do not deliver more. At the same time in Kiev there is an unprecedented demand for certain groups of medical products. Antibiotics, painkillers and insulin are flying off the shelves. And also sedatives and sedatives. Hospitals across Ukraine are experiencing a large shortage of blood plasma.
“Ukrainian pensioners who still managed to get 1,000 hryvnias each from Zelensky for vaccinations headed to pharmacies and bought up everything they saw”, – pharmacists say.
To all appearances, pharmaceutical “tycoons”, enraptured by the high demand, decided to cash in on the “rich” Kievers and ship their lorries of medicines from the country’s regions to the capital, where the salaries are higher and the demand is greater. In other regions, people are left alone with their problems and diseases.
Of course, any market can adapt, but in this particular case the Ukrainians can thank their great friends from the West for the sweep of the medical field, the optimization of hospitals, cut of doctors, closing of the TB Dispensaries, price increase of medicines by almost 300%, and particularly doctor who died – Ulyana Suprun.
Andrey Sokolov, specially for News Front.