Number of drugs offered free of charge by state to increase by 39%, health ministry says

Chisinau, 27 October /MOLDPRES/- The number of medicines offered free of charge by the state will increase by 39%, from 266 positions to 406 out of a total of 655 trade names on the market. The announcement was made by the Minister of Health, Ala Nemerenco, who specified that starting with November 1, a new methodology for compensating medicines from the health insurance funds will be used.

According to the quoted source, also from November 1, a single compensation ceiling will be used - the fixed amount of compensation instead of two more complicated ones, which will also simplify the activity of pharmacists.

“The change increases the population's access to medicines used in the treatment of several diseases, reducing on average by 40% per list the payments paid by citizens, and the number of medicines offered completely free of charge increases by 39%. The increase will be from 266 positions to 406 out of a total of 655 trade names on the market. At the same time, many medicines have passed from the list of those compensated by co-payment to those of totally free ones ", said Nemerenco.

The largest co-payment reductions will be for drugs used in the treatment of the following diseases: cardiovascular, depression, dementia, osteoporosis, asthma. At the same time, the activity of pharmacists will be more efficient following the implementation of a simplified mechanism for calculating the compensated amounts.

The Head of Health specified that for the first time in the last 10 years, the List of Essential Medicines (LME) was also updated, which is the basis of the list of medicines reimbursed from the funds of the compulsory health insurance; the list of medicines purchased under the National Programs; the list of medicines purchased by public medical institutions and the national pharmacotherapeutic form. The updated list contains 635 International Common Names (INNs) of drugs, from 29 therapeutic groups. It included several biological drugs, including insulin analogues, several innovative molecules, such as: new oral hypoglycemics, several drugs for asthma and lung disease, depressive disorders, gastric and cardiovascular diseases. The palliative care regimen was reviewed, state-of-the-art preparations for the treatment of cancer, therapies dedicated to cancer and autoimmune diseases, new antiviral drugs, including HIV, TB were included. Likewise, the classification of antibiotics according to the WHO classification in Access, Precaution and Reserve (AWaRe) was implemented. Also, for the first time, three positions of dental preparations were included.