Long lines of people in front of pharmacies throughout Greece for fear of running out of medicines: there were many panic scenes on February 27, with citizens ready to snatch the last medicine available in the shop from their hands.
Pharmaceutical companies, in fact, have significantly reduced or, in some cases, completely stopped the delivery of medicines to Greek hospitals: the cause is the economic crisis that led the country to default in recent months.
"The companies are cutting off supplies because Greece can no longer be considered a market capable of giving them profits," he explained to the Guardian Yannis Tountas, president of the National Medicines Organization.
THE LOWEST PRICES IN EUROPE. The prices of medicines in Greece are in fact much lower than in the rest of Europe, reaching less than 20%.
“Pharmaceutical companies are concerned that their products once sold in Greece could be exported by sellers in other countries through an alternative and bad for business market,” Tountas continued.
What made the vase overflow were the huge debts that the Greek national system owes to companies supplying medicines.
THE PREVIOUS IN 2011. It is not the first time that Athens has faced this problem: in June 2011, pharmacies blocked the free distribution of anti-tumor medicines and last November they called a general strike in protest at the new law which provides for a further reduction of price of medicines.
The heavy debts in the health sector
