Drug prices keep rising in Georgia

TBILISI(BPI)-Medicine prices increased again in April 2019 compared with April 2018.

 In particular, blood pressure medications  went up by 4, 5%, pain killers by 1, 7%, antibiotics by 9, 5%, vitamins by 6, 4%, drugs for the digestive tract by 5, 6%, anti-inflammatory drugs rose in price by 4,8%.

Apart from that, prices for hospital services rose by 1, 8%.

Drug prices keep growing in the country and this trend has not changed for many years. the expert Irakli Makalatia believes that this is caused by a  high level of the country’s dependence on the import of medicines.

“It’s worth mentioning that Georgian citizens spend the most on  food and medicines. Prices grow due to a very weak local production and the country is completely dependent on the imports. The second reason is the dominance of several large companies in the market that agree the prices. Small and medium-sized players cannot affect the situation due to their weakness, ”the economist explains.

According to official data, in comparison with March 2019, the drugs slightly fell in price in April. In particular, the prices of blood pressure medicines and painkillers fell by 0.03%, for vitamins – by 0.11%, for medicines for the digestive tract by 0.07%, for anti-inflammatory drugs by 0.08%.

Antibiotics   were the only category in which drugs rose in price by 0.02% in April.

In the reporting period hospital services also fell in price by 0, 15%.

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