Medicines are not a commodity. Healthcare is a basic consumer right, and a major component of healthcare is the administration of medicines. Medicines cure people and should never be treated as just another commodity, where pricing and accessibility would be determined by market forces. The government has a critical role to play to ensure that all consumers, especially the low and middle income have access to affordable medicines.
It appears that the pharmaceutical companies in Malaysia are making exorbitant profits by international standards. In another study, it was found that “Malaysia has average higher retail prescription prices compared to Australia due to the lack of pharmaceutical regulation”. And according to the Penang Institute, the median mark-up for originator’ and lowest-priced generics in private hospitals was 51% and 167% respectively.
According to the World Health Organization , an “affordable and fair price” is one that can be funded by patients and health budgets and simultaneously sustains research and development, production and distribution within a country. Further WHO proposes that all nations, high income and low income, in their efforts towards universal health coverage, should have policy measures to control and regulate the price of medicines.
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Source: fmtoday - 🏆 5. / 72 Read more »