The Minister of Health, about the problem of treatment interruptions: “Where we reach a pressure from the supplier, we try to mediate it” / “We want to leave CNAS without debts at the end of the year”
Medicines, photo: Gicamatescu | Dreamstime.com
The Minister of Health, Alexandru Rogobete, told Digi24 on Friday that the problem of medication interruptions “is serious and is not only in the case of oncological patients”, with the debts to suppliers, production interruptions or blockages in the auction process at the hospital level.
“On the website of the Ministry of Health there is already a minister's order, last week, which will introduce 35 molecules in the list of compensations, so we practically broaden the access of patients to treatments and medicines (…).
He explained that “the medication interruptions appear for three reasons – the debts to the suppliers, and, of course, the supplier no longer delivers to the health unit, the production interruptions, which are rare, but there are, or blockages (…) in the auction process at the hospitals”.
“Now, what is our target and what we want until the end of this year to happen is to leave the National House of Health without debts at the end of the year, so that the budget for next year is allocated from the start of the national health programs and not to draw these debts after us, which are not for many years,” they have been for many years.
“We know the problem, we monitor it weekly”
The minister said that in cases where there is “pressure from the supplier”, a mediation is tried.
“Where we reach a pressure (…) from the supplier, we try to mediate it so as to close this year and, very important, to leave this year without debt,” added Rogobete.
The official claims that the third package of the government will also include measures to stimulate the production of medicines in Romania.
“A second measure that will directly impact the patient, for the better, we want to make an innovation fund at the level of the Ministry of Health, and the industry (…) participates in this fund with a certain percentage of the income tax, and with the money accumulated in this innovation fund, the treatment for patients who need innovative molecules is paid,” Rogobete.
He said that for the innovation fund there is “a legislative change that is written and which in two weeks will probably be put into transparency by the Ministry of Health”.
“Basically, patients can have access to innovative drugs – rare, oncological and so faster, with the help of this innovation fund, which is a win-win (I win for all parties, no), if you want, for both the industry area and the system, and especially for the patient. We made a short calculation, only with 10 DCIs, 10 molecules, in a year we can accumulate around 2 billion in this fund ”, said the Minister of Health.
Photo: Gicamatescu | Dreamstime.com
