Today, NGOs, patients and average Ukrainians appealed to\u00a0the President of\u00a0Ukraine with an\u00a0open letter, calling to\u00a0cancel the Law \u2116\u00a05038-VI, which will lead to\u00a0a\u00a0significant increase in\u00a0drug prices, and due to\u00a0which some drugs will disappear from pharmacy shelves.<\/p>\n
On\u00a0July\u00a04, 2012 the Verkhovna Rada of\u00a0Ukraine adopted the Law \u2116\u00a05038-VI \u00abOn\u00a0Amendments to\u00a0Some Laws of\u00a0Ukraine on\u00a0import licensing medicines and definition of\u00a0the term \u00abactive pharmaceutical ingredient\u00bb, which obliges all importers of\u00a0foreign medicines in\u00a0Ukraine to\u00a0obtain a\u00a0special license for selling their products on\u00a0the territory of\u00a0Ukraine. The law, which supposedly is\u00a0to\u00a0protect the Ukrainian producer, actually creates a\u00a0black market for drugs in\u00a0Ukraine.<\/p>\n
\u00abWe\u00a0anticipate manual mode licenses and denial of\u00a0market participants pay a\u00a0new license<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 says Dmitry Sherembey<\/strong>, chairman of\u00a0UCAB. \u2014\u00a0This will lead to\u00a0monopolization of\u00a0the market, the growth of\u00a0corruption and bias. Some manufacturers will just live the market. And these are not the pharmaceutical companies who will pay additional costs, these are\u00a0we, ordinary Ukrainians, as\u00a0Ukraine will stop importing life-saving drugs, and the \u201eblack market\u201c of\u00a0pharmaceuticals will rapidly increase.\u00bb<\/em><\/p>\n This law will be\u00a0death sentence for many Ukrainians whose life depends on\u00a0foreign-made drugs. For example, almost all drugs purchased to\u00a0treat children with cancer are of\u00a0foreign production, only\u00a020% of\u00a0drugs for diabetics are produced in\u00a0Ukraine. Almost 100% of\u00a0patients with the worst epidemic\u00a0\u2014 AIDS, hepatitis and tuberculosis get foreign-made drugs, because Ukrainian generics do\u00a0not even exist. From 2015 the Law requires separate licensing of\u00a0children\u2019s diapers and condoms.<\/p>\n Such lobbying law outraged doctors as\u00a0well. \u00abWhat we\u00a0have to\u00a0treat people with stroke? \u2014\u00a0outraged Vladimir Zhovnir, chief physician of\u00a0the Scientific Center of\u00a0Pediatric Cardiac Health of\u00a0Ukraine. \u2014\u00a0All inhalation anesthesia in\u00a0Ukraine is\u00a0of\u00a0foreign production. Do\u00a0we\u00a0have to\u00a0cut people alive so\u00a0that officials could get additional revenue from the pharmaceutical industry? This is\u00a0nonsense, for which Ukrainian patients will pay with their life.\u00bb<\/p>\n \u00abAmong the drugs that are vital to\u00a0the implementation of\u00a0modern treatment protocols for children with cancer and serious oncohemathological, 97% is\u00a0imported drugs. In\u00a0the absence of\u00a0these drugs it\u00a0will be\u00a0simply impossible to\u00a0provide adequate medical care for sick kids\u00bb<\/em>,\u00a0\u2014 says Svetlana Donska<\/strong>, the head of\u00a0the Center for Children\u2019s Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation NDSL \u00abOKHMATDYT\u00bb Health of\u00a0Ukraine, Chief MoH of\u00a0Ukraine on\u00a0\u00abPediatric Hematology\u00bb.<\/p>\n We\u00a0note that the Law \u2116\u00a05038-VI enters into force on\u00a01\u00a0March 2013. Starting from this date all the drugs that cross the Ukrainian border are obliged to\u00a0obtain additional licenses, which no\u00a0one knows how to\u00a0get.<\/p>\n On\u00a0February\u00a05, Verkhovna Rada of\u00a0Ukraine registered the draft law \u2116\u00a02196\u00a0on the abolition of\u00a0the Law of\u00a0Ukraine \u2116\u00a05038-VI.<\/p>\n Patient organizations and NGOs have put their signatures under an\u00a0open letter asking the President to\u00a0help rescue the situation. The Letter is\u00a0on\u00a0the public domain here, activists urge every Ukrainian who at\u00a0least once in\u00a0a\u00a0lifetime bought medicines to\u00a0sign the appeal, because this law applied to\u00a0everyone.<\/p>\n