Pharmacists’ chief warns of drugs shortage in Greece
There is a shortage of medicines in Greece, particularly vaccines for children, the head of the country’s Pharmacists’ Association, Constantinos Lourantos, warned on Thursday.
He blamed a lack of supply and firms exporting drugs to markets where they could sell them at a better price as the key factors causing the alleged shortage.
“Anywhere in the world, patients need medicines when they are ill and even sporadic shortages, which are now a daily occurrence, cause big problems,” he said.
Lourantos cited some examples of drugs that were in short supply during the first nine months of the year.
He said pharmacies had ordered 5,000 boxes of a particular hormone but only received 134, while 350,000 orders were placed for a drug to combat cholesterol and only 76,070 were delivered.
