Mikhail Zurabov has no doubts that uninterrupted supplies of medicines to regions

Saturday, September 21, 2019

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Russian Minister of Health and Social Development Mikhail Zurabov has no doubts that uninterrupted supplies of medicines to regions and their provision to citizens entitled to social welfare benefits “in normal volumes” will be attained in late March – early April. The minister made this statement answering questions in the Sudite Sami (Judge Yourselves) programme shown by the Channel One of Russian television. “We have no doubts regarding this. Every day we hear reports of five-six territories with most detailed plans of coping with the developed deficit of medicines,” said Zurabov. “Simultaneously with representatives of regions taking part in these meetings are also representatives of the pharmaceutical business, producers, suppliers of medicines. It is an absolutely coordinated decision,” according to the minister. In the view of Zurabov, the signing by the Russian president of the law on the allocation of 16 billion roubles for the settlement of the debt for supplied medicines in 2006 gives grounds to believe that these funds will come to regions within the coming week and this will normalize the supplies. “The supplies have now began, but they are made in some sense by a word of honour. We have promised that will settle the last year’s debt issues and thus the supplies have been largely normalized,” the health and social development minister said. However, according to him, it is necessary to additionally fulfil another task – rationalization of expenditure and here “we are top work very closely with the governors.” Zurabov pledged that the list of medicines supplied to benefit recipients will not be reconsidered this year. “A decision has been made that the list of these medicines will be reconsidered once a year,” he said. “Thus we have a stable list for this year and only after the year ends a proposal on the list’s possible modernization or improvement will be considered with taking into consideration of experts’ opinion and opinion of regions,” Zurabov pointed out. The minister on the whole believes that “it is necessary to move towards the formation of the system of healthcare financing based on other principles.” In his view, this model should be based on insurance.

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