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MEDICINE
PRICES
Durban:
17 February 2004
The
draft regulations on medicine prices form one part of a larger
process dealing with medicine supplies in the country. In its
entity, the Act regulates import, export, production, sales,
safety, quality and efficacy of medicines.
All aspects of
the law give draconian powers to the Minister and her
Director-General to engineer and to control. In the case of
medicine sales, the Director-General may overrule any price
charged by a manufacturer for a medicine, having acquired a host
of information about the production costs and international
prices. He or she is bound to make horrendous mistakes.
The
initial price is set at 50% of the current price. This is an
absurdly arbitrary figure that does not take into account the
fairness or otherwise of the current medicine price. Furthermore,
as the government forces down
costs to the private sector, they
will go up for the State.
Since the industry is often
guilty of inflating and manipulating prices, enforcing
transparency along the entire chain of supply is a necessary evil.
But the complexity of the add on calculations at each level of the
chain
will be impossible for smaller companies to implement. It
will require sophisticated computing and will be very difficult to
monitor. It adds another layer of beaurocracy and cost to those
who deal in medicines.
The result is not to improve access
to the poor, or to reduce the health spend or to equalise
services. Sophisticated new medicine will not be available to
anyone and state supplies will be even further reduced due to the
price strain. It is frustrating that most companies and
associations affected are too scared to complain. They are
beholden to government for approval in everything they do. They
dare not be seen to be opponents of the system.
Welcome
to a one-party state.
The IFP advocates communication with
and participation by the industry, transparency, better policing
of corrupt practices and tight controls to minimise theft and sale
of counterfeit medicines.
Contact.
Dr Ruth
Rabinowitz
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