More specifically, talking at a conference round table about the difficulties encountered by the patients in order to find their medicaments in Greece, the President of the Panhellenic Association of Pharmaceutical Industries (PEF), Mr. Dimitris Demos, stressed that "drugs may cause a crisis".
The President of the Association of Pharmaceutical Industries in Greece (SFEE), Mr. Konstantinos Frouzis, called Greece a "guinea pig", as unprecedented measures that are not implemented in any other European country are imposed on the Healthcare sector. He pointed out that foreign media speak of a humanitarian crisis in reference to Greece, and noted that the situation could deteriorate, given that the €2 billion pharmaceutical expenditure that the Troika has set for 2014 could result in new and severe consequences to Public Healthcare. "Pharmaceutical expenditure should be set at €2.250 billion," stressed Mr. Frouzis.
The need to increase pharmaceutical expenditure so as not to create a two-tier system of patients in Greece was also stressed by PEF Vice President, Theodore Tryfon. According to Mr. Tryfon, it is imperative to rationalize the internal allocation of expenditure on drugs in the Healthcare sector, but also to secure further resources from the total budget.
In addition, the PEF Vice President expressed his concern over the potential of extensive importing of questionable quality generics, as the Greek National Organization for Medicines (EOF) would be unable to conduct effective controls. On the other hand, he underlined the fact that Greek drugs are already and can be controlled at any given moment.
The SFEE Vice President, Mr. Markos Gerassopoulos, stressed that in the last 2.5 years Greek patients have been denied new therapies, since no new pharmaceutical products have been approved during this period of time.
"We must make room for new drugs. We cannot view them only as an additional expenditure," he stated and went on to say, that the per capita pharmaceutical expenditure in Greece was to be set at €178 in 2014, whereas the median equivalent in Europe was €328. European citizens should have the same rights as Greek patients, he added.