Salvadorans Can't Afford
Medicines
Drugs are inaccessible
for many people in El
Salvador, due to
skyrocketing prices and
frequent shortages, a
study by the country's
Public and Health
Policies Observatory
indicated on Tuesday.
Observatory director
Eduardo Espionsa said
that sometimes, it takes
Salvadorians four days'
pay to buy treatment for
their illnesses, with
the situation worse in
rural areas.
He stressed the urgent
need to create a
national policy to
regulate the prices of
medicines and avoid
abuses in marketing, a
measure rejected by the
private sector, which
pleads free market.
The World Health
Organization backed
study denounces that the
expense, added to poor
supply in public
networks, leaves 50
percent of the demand
unmet.
Taking 43 basic health
products as a sample to
compare prices of origin
to sale prices, Espinoza
said sales prices range
between 270 and 600
times over international
standards, and cited the
example of ranitidine
(to treat gastric
ulcer), which costs
pharmacists $1 and they
sell it for $29. |
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