Turkish government to open tender for drug shortage

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet

Turkey’s Labor Ministry will launch tenders for most imported drugs to find a solution for a lack of certain medications on the market, Health Minister Mehmet Müezzinoğlu has said.

The Turkish Pharmacologists Association (TEB) is currently the only actor importing the required drugs, but many necessary drugs are finding their way onto the black market due to shortages in pharmacies and because it often takes the TEB between two and 30 days to import the necessary medicine.

“The Economy Coordination Board [EKK] is conducting a study regarding the drugs that cannot be found on the market,” Müezzinoğlu told daily Hürriyet.

“For example, we have a list of the medicines that we brought from abroad the most in 2013. The TEB used to import those drugs, but the Labor and Social Security Ministry will put that list out to tender. It will be able to do that at drug warehouses. We will also ask for additional liabilities from the contractor,” the minister said, claiming the scheme would end the ongoing difficulties to find medicines in Turkey.

Müezzinoğlu also announced plans to manufacture some drugs domestically.

“We are doing local drug manufacturing studies. We have allocated around 15 billion Turkish Liras for the medicine budget,” he said. The minister said the government would give priority to national manufacturers while buying medicine, guaranteeing three years of purchases in return for undertaking the investments sought by the government.

“This request is necessary for raising the production,” he said, adding that the drugs would be entirely compliant with world standards.