Pharmacists welcome medicine price list

THE CYPRUS Pharmacists’ Association yesterday applauded a Health Ministry decision to publish the maximum retail prices of imported medicines, saying it was a step forward.

The Ministry on Friday announced that the pharmaceutical services had prepared a list informing the public of prices.

The Health Ministry said that the move came in response to reports that importers and retailers had been overpricing medicines.

The Ministry said that medicines could not be sold above the price listed. The list will be updated every six months.

Association president Nicos Doris said yesterday that while the publishing of the list would be a sign of progress, the system was yet to be perfected.

“It’s on a trial basis for six months and we agreed that all the interested parties would submit suggestions to improve the procedure in June.”

Doris said the Association’s basic suggestion would be for the list to be valid for at least one year, not updated every six months, “for the sake of stability.”

“When countries like Germany and Greece have lists valid for three or four years, why can’t a small country like Cyprus adjust?” he wondered.

Doris said the price of new medicines would be added to the list as they appeared and that changing manufacturing prices would affect listed retail prices only once the register was updated.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.