The Romanian Ministry of Health published, on February 1, the order on the new prices of compensated medicine. According to the order, drug prices will be calculated at an exchange rate RON4 to the euro for Romanian medicine as well as for imported ones.
According to the president of the Association of International Medicine Distributors, the readjustment of the prices with respect for the new exchange rates spells a 10% increase in the prices of local drugs and 20% in the prices of foreign drugs.
The recalculation of the price targets dome 5,000 drugs, but patients will only feel these hikes for some 1,000 drugs, which are sold with 50% to 90% compensation.
Other products are included in the national programs and are 100% compensated, while the price increases are covered from the budget.
Price hikes range from 0.50 lei (EUR1 = RON4.2987) to RON50. The increases target almost the entire range of medicine.
The medicine prices now calculated at RON4 to the euro were initially calculated at RON3.32 to the euro for Romanian products and RON3.63 to the euro for imported products.