International assistance in the immunoglobulin crisis
Romania on Monday officially requested help from EU and NATO member countries to resolve the crisis of immunoglobulin missing on the market.
Roxana Vasile, 06.03.2018, 14:09
Ever since last year, Romanians who suffer from ailments of the immune system and are immunoglobulin-dependent have been confronted with a situation not to be tolerated in a state that cares about the health of its citizens: the producers that provided over 80% of such products have withdrawn from the market, sparking off a crisis that has not been resolved yet.
That has happened although the Health Ministry decided that the producers of medicines from blood and plasma derivatives be exempted from the payment of the clawback tax for two years. Adopted in the autumn of 2011, the clawback tax stipulates that medicine producers return to the Romanian state, under certain conditions, part of the profit they make from the sale of subsidized medicines.
On the one hand, producers argue that that tax is the main cause of the shortage of immunoglobulin, a tax, which makes the price of many immunoglobulins be lower than the production costs. On the other hand, relevant authorities must immediately find solutions so that immunodeficient patients may not become the victims of a system where only pecuniary interests are prevalent. According to some, that crisis would actually be a sort of pressure put by companies on the Health Ministry for a certain price to be established.
To resolve the immunoglobulin crisis that has a major impact on people’s lives, Romania on Monday officially requested help from the EU countries. Health Minister, Sorina Pintea, has announced that the EU Civil Protection Mechanism has been activated; the Mechanism was set up to support a coordinated and quicker response to disasters. The decision has been endorsed by Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila. Health Minister Sorina Pintea:
Sorina Pintea: “We’ve made all the necessary efforts to solve this problem. The Romanian state suspended the clawback tax for this product for two years and yet nothing has happened. For March we don’t expect any doses to come in, and we have a few promises for April, but I don’t believe in them. Therefore I’ve informed the Prime Minister and got the approval to begin this procedure. It is a European-level alert, through which Romania requests the medicine.”
In addition, Romania has also applied to the NATO Mechanism for immunoglobulin. Raed Arafat, state secretary at the Interior Ministry said that the top priority was identifying medicine stocks to be made available to the Romanian authorities that should purchase and urgently bring them to the country. The UNIFARM National Company, which is the Health Ministry’s medicine distributor, will be in charge of the immunoglobulin purchase.
