CNI News
5 Sept 2022
As prices of medicines and medical equipment are exorbitantly high in Myanmar, patients with chromic diseases are getting into trouble, Dr. Thurein Hlaing Wim, the chief editor and founder of Hello Sayarwon Health Information Page, told the CNI.
They can’t afford expenses at hospitals and specialist clinics and are forced to go to free clinics for treatments.
Dr. Thurein Hlaing Win told the CNI, “They patients with chronic diseases like cancer, diabetes and hypertension. It is difficult for them to get medicines and medical equipment. And medicines are getting more and more expensive, they can’t afford them. They have to struggle disproportionately. They can’t afford medicines even when they have high blood pressures or blood sugar levels.
The prices of a common medicine called Decogen have risen from MMK 10,000 previously to 19,000 per pack at present.
Some cancer patients are forced to reduce their normal dosages of or completely stop taking cancer medicines, which are normally too expensive for grass roots to buy and necessary to take long-term, when their prices have skyrocketed.
Meanwhile, wholesalers and retailers of medicines and medical equipment have not been able to replenish the depleted stocks, Ma Theingi, the owner of a wholesale/retail pharmacy, told the CNI.
As prices are rising hour by hour, pharmacies have to reduce their stocks. Pharmacies, which keep ten bottles of medicines normally, now store only two to three bottles in their stocks. Some pharmacies come to us and buy very expensive medicine only after they have received orders. My stocks are running low as I mainly distribute medicines and gloves made in China,” said Ma Theingi.
During the third wave of COVID-19, the prices of medicines rose dramatically due to shortages of medicines and oxygen.
Currently, imports of medicines have fallen due to the appreciation of the US dollar and medicine prices are rising dramatically.
