Competition Authority: Hospitals should be able to import all medicines
Hospitals in Estonia should be able to import all types of pharmaceuticals, according to the Estonian Competition Authority (Konkurentsiamet). Currently hospitals are barred from importing certain medicines and pharmaceutical products.
The move would improve competition in the sector, including that between hospitals themselves, and retailers, the authority says, in the context of a bill aimed at amending the Medicinal Products Act 2004, according to BNS.
Sales to hospital pharmacies make up 30 percent of retailers' revenue, it is reported. However, authorizing hospitals to purchase all products direct from wholesalers across the EU could lead to price savings, without harming domestic retailers, since products currently barred to Estonian hospitals make up less than two percent of the total, BNS reports.
Head of the competition division Kristel Roomusaar set out the agency's position on the bill in a communication sent to the Ministry of Social Affairs.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
