Yangon, September (3)
Chronic patients with diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease told Than Lwin Times that they are worried about their lives as medical prices have skyrocketed and some essential medicines are in short supply with the restrictions imposed by the military council.
Despite the fact that the value of the dollar is falling back, drug importers are having a hard time due to the junta’s restriction that import licenses will only be issued if companies that import pharmaceutical products can buy dollars on their own and pay the sellers.
The domestic medicine market is facing a shortage of some essential medicines for home use, such as those for hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease, with drug prices increasing.
Patients with diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and other chronic diseases are taking medications daily, and if there is a shortage of medication, the disease is serious and life-threatening.
The depreciation of the Myanmar currency; import permit restrictions, and difficulties in importing medicines are driving up medicine prices.
The dollar restrictions imposed by the junta-held central bank in early April have raised the prices of basic medicines by 50 to 100 percent.
On the other hand, drug suppliers have suspended their sales due to the instability of the dollar price, and some are only selling with quotas, a pharmacy owner said.
Therefore, if the military council does not solve the problem of import license as soon as possible, the pharmacy operators consider that they may face a large shortage of medicine again.
Myanmar mainly imports drugs and related products from Thailand, China and India, and has often faced medicine shortages during the 19 months since the military coup.
News – Than Lwin Times
