Government takes control of Pharmaceutical pricing

Government has taken control of the overcharging of medicines by pharmacies demanding United States American dollar (USD).

Pharmacies that are overcharging medicines have been warned by government that they are at the risk of losing their operating licences.

Some patients have been left stranded as the uptake of medicines has reduced which may complicate their medical conditions.

Health and Child Care Minister Dr Obadiah Moyo said government will be checking the pricing of medicines at pharmacies very soon

“we are going to be checking on all private pharmacies to ensure that they are all adhering to the approved prices. We do not want a situation where people are overcharged, where there is a continuous hiking of drug prices and at the same time, we also want to advice retailers that they should not charge in foreign currency” Said Moyo.

Informal traders are bringing cough syrups and pain killers into the country to sell in the streets

This increase in prices of medicines raises concerns that some providers might end up selling expired medicines at cheaper prices because a few patients are now able to buy these medicines.

Pharmaceutical Society of Zimbabwe (PSZ) President Mr. Portia Mwendera commented on the decline of medicine uptake rate due to the failure by medical and societies to pay up for medicine to pharmacies.

“We have noticed that the consumption of pharmaceutical services has declined significantly over the last quarter mainly due to affordability issues” said Mwendera

Government is walking to make this situation easy for patients to make medicines affordable at public Health Institutions.