The Ministry of Health assessed the proposal to establish a fixed markup on prescription medications.
At the upcoming government meeting, the Ministry of Health's informational report on medication prices will be reviewed and, apparently, acknowledged. Specifically, the Ministry of Health analyzed the possibility of establishing a fixed, that is, uniform, markup on all prescription medications so that residents of rural areas could purchase medicines at local pharmacies at the same price as, for example, residents of Riga.
The analysis conducted showed that even now, when there is no fixed markup but only a maximum allowable one, the prices of medications in small rural pharmacies and in Riga hardly differ - at most, within 5%. Therefore, there is no point in 'fixing' the price and worsening the financial condition of rural pharmacies.
As for compensatory medications, their prices are already fixed, and they remain unchanged even if a patient is not entitled to compensation and buys medications from this compensatory list with their own money.
Thus, the Ministry of Health suggests not changing anything further in the pricing policy.
