Prosecutor's Office of Dagestan finds facts of drugs overpricing in republic's pharmacies

The Prosecutor's Office of Dagestan has launched a check of observance of the pricing legislation in the pharmaceutical market of the republic. Numerous cases when drugs were sold too expensive have been revealed.

The "Caucasian Knot" was told at the Office that the local government had fixed the limiting wholesale prices and retail extra charges on the prices for medical products.

According to the Dagestan Department of Federal Antimonopoly Service, the average price rise on medicines from the start of the year till October 1 made about 29 percent.

"At the same time, in the course of the check conducted by the bodies of the Prosecutor's Office with participation of 'Roszdravnadzor' (Federal Public Health Supervision Agency) facts were revealed, when the ceiling extra charges on medical products fixed by the government of the republic were exceeded," the Office told the "Caucasian Knot".

Particular facts of violations were reported. The check had shown that in one of the drugstores the preparation "Zovirax, 5 percent cream for external use" was bought from the supplier at 221 roubles per pack and sold in retail outlet for 447 roubles; the trading surcharge was overestimated by 75 percent against the limit and made 102 percent.

"On all the revealed violations of the order of pricing, public prosecutors initiated cases on administrative offences against the persons in charge under part 1, Article 14.6 of the Code on Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation "Violation of pricing regulations," the "Caucasian Knot" was informed at the Office.

The manager of one of the drugstores, audited in the course of the check, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that he believed the claims of the prosecutor's office to be unreasonable, "as it's impossible to count up the trading margin by simple arithmetic actions; and before the goods reach the counter, plenty of unexpected costs appear."

"Only in recent time, suppliers have increased their wholesale prices; transportation has grown more expensive," the manager complained.

However, a source at the Ministry of Public Health, who preferred to remain anonymous, would not agree with him.

"Earlier, when the state-run network of drugstores existed only, there were one supplier and identical prices. Now, practically all the drugstores are private - they look for their suppliers themselves. There are cases when cheap medicines are bought cheat from doubtful suppliers and then sold with significant surcharge; facts of faked drugs were numerous. It's hard to counteract such cases, as almost all the drugstores are 'roofed' by high-ranking officials or businessmen, and nobody wants to deal with them."