Chechnya checks pharmacies for selling counterfeit drugs

From November 24 on, employees of law enforcement bodies of Chechnya are detecting pharmacies and retail outlets, where non-licensed and counterfeit drugs are sold. Sellers of such drugs will face administrative punishments.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed about it in local law enforcement agencies. These actions are carried out by the Republic's Department for Combating Economic Crimes (the so-called "UBEP"), the Temporary Operative Grouping of Bodies and Units of Russian MIA (known as VOGOiP), the Prosecutor's Office of Chechnya and the local "Rospotrebnadzor" (Russian Federal Agency for Consumer Supervision) branch.

"From November 24, the republic holds large-scale activities aimed to identify the pharmacies, selling counterfeit medicines and withdraw drugs with expired shelf life from sale. During the first days of prophylactic measures, we revealed dozens of shops selling drugs non-compliant with respective GOSTs (State Standards)," said the source of the "Caucasian Knot".

Meanwhile, according to locals, most pharmacies are still selling old or uncertified medicines.

"Almost every physician has his or her friends among pharmacists, whom he hands over medicines, which are later prescribed to patients," Ruslan, a resident of Grozny, who has medical education, is convinced. "The scheme is very simple: a doctor delivers drugs to a friend - a druggist; and later, when prescribing the required preparations to his or her patients, persistently recommends to buy drugs from that particular pharmacist, saying that only there good drugs are sold. The problem is that many citizens are buying drugs and pay no attention to the shelf life, while pharmacists themselves never tell about such things."

Also, many people in the republic complain that at medical establishments they have to pay for everything, even for dressing materials and syringes.

"When a patient gets to hospital, they immediately demand a medical insurance policy. But the presence of the policy does not necessarily mean that treatment will be free. Doctors and nurses are paid for examinations, injections, medicines and for everything else. This is despite the fact that all hospitals have announcements hung on walls that treatment free of charge and all the necessary medicines are in place. But when you get into a hospital bed, it immediately becomes clear that the very medications you need are just over and should be bought for own money. Nobody claims money from you openly, but the patient is placed into such conditions, that he or she has to pay. Health is still more important than anything else; therefore, during a surgery, even as simple as removing the appendix, they usually pay the surgeon, the anaesthesiologist and the nurses. Besides, a patient shall have all the necessary things with him or her," said Salambek D., a local resident.