Caracas.- The rise in drug prices for the most vulnerable population increased between 25% and 75% until last October. According to a study, released this week by the civil association Convite, the cost of so-called essential drugs increased by 25% on average. Some drugs for diabetics are the ones that registered the greatest increase, with up to 75%, from September to October.
The figures correspond to an investigation into the situation of access to medicines in 10 regions of the country. Among the cities where the investigation was carried out, Caracas, Barquisimeto, Ciudad Bolívar, Maracaibo, Maturín, Mérida and Puerto Ordaz stand out. Other state capitals such as San Carlos and San Juan de los Morros were also included. San Felipe and San Fernando were incorporated for the first time in the measurement. The report addresses the drug shortage and offers price index data.
In the sample is consider five medicines that the World Health Organization (WHO) classifies as essential. These compounds are classified as those in greatest demand in the Venezuelan population, since they are administered in the treatment of chronic diseases that cause the highest number of deaths in the country. The prices analyzed include amlodipine, prescribed in cases of hypertension and glibenclamide, a treatment for type 2 diabetes mellitus. The list is completed by losartan, which is used to treat high blood pressure, metformin, indicated for diabetes, and sertraline, a commonly used anxiolytic.
Expensive and scarce
The price variation was calculated according to data from September and obre. Amlodipine went from 1,313,622 bolivars to 1,505,655 bolivars in the reviewed period. In the same period, the glibenclamide 2,081,400 bolivars to 2,115,000 bolivars. The most notable rise is that of metformin, which rose from 1,483,522 bolivars in September to 2,603,371 bolivars in October. In the case of losartan, the difference was the lowest on record, in September it was 1,997,022 bolivars and in October 2,227,044 bolivars. Meanwhile, sertraline started at 2,176,445 bolivars, to end at 2,880,900 bolivars.
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Refering to shortage, the general mean places anticonvulsants and antidepressants as the hardest to get. Medications for acute respiratory diseases and diabetes follow. The stock-out rate for these three formulations ranges from 55% to 74%. Antidiarrheals show a downward trend in the degree of shortage that was reported.
“Seizures and depression (74%), acute respiratory infections (72%) and diabetes (55%) were the causes of morbidity with the highest rates of shortage of medicines, nationwide, during the month of October. On the other hand, drugs to control hypertension and those prescribed for diarrheal syndromes register indicators below 50%, maintaining this behavior for the fourth consecutive month ”, the NGO reported.
Sur stocked
The city with the greatest scarcity is Puerto Ordaz. In this locality, the supply index for some medicine items reaches up to 94%. This performance has remained in the same situation for at least four years, with no improvements in public policies. Chronic diseases associated with disorders of the brain, emotional or respiratory system function are the most difficult to control, due to the profound shortage of drugs.
“Puerto Ordaz once again gets the first place as the city with the worst supply in its medicine baskets according to the data obtained in our study. Its indicators due to morbidity range from 65% to 94% shortage. In this entity, seizures, depression or personality disorders and acute respiratory infections (ARI) represent the morbidities that are less likely to be controlled with drugs ”, said the report
Jesús Barreto A.Vista_1
Jesús Barreto A.Vista_1
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