You're reading: Yanukovych proposes switching to state regulation of prices for medicines

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has instructed the government to ensure there is a transition to the state regulation of prices for medicines.

"I’m instructing the government to gradually introduce a European-style reference price approach to the state regulation of prices for medicines," he said at an extended meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on Wednesday.

Yanukovych said that prices for medicines in Ukraine could not be several times higher than the prices of the same drugs in neighboring countries.

"When I talk to retirees, veterans, they are talking about the constantly rising price of medicines. This especially hits the pockets of those who have to take medicines every day. It cannot be so that the same medicine imported to Ukraine is sold at a price that is significantly higher than in neighboring countries. For example, such a medicine as Cereginum costs Hr 11 in Belarusian drugstores, whereas in Ukraine it is 15 times more expensive – Hr 153," Yanukovych said.

He said that such a rise in prices was due to there being intermediaries in medicine importing.