Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has instructed the Health Ministry to stock up on life-saving medications to ensure medical supplies aren't affected by the drastic devaluation of Russia's ruble currency.
"There should be a stockpile. The Health Ministry should determine the amount of the reserves, however you see fit, maybe three months, maybe six. And it needs to be replenished as soon as the need arises," Medvedev told Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova, according to a transcript of the meeting posted Tuesday on the government website. Ensuring these medications are accessible is especially important now, Medvedev said, as "people recalculate [the price of] all medications according to the ruble exchange rate, which is currently being influenced by negative factors."
The Russian ruble dropped about 40 percent against the U.S. dollar last year, dragged down by slowing economic growth, Western sanctions over the crisis in Ukraine and steep falls in the price of oil. The ruble continued to fall on Wednesday, sliding about 3.5 percent to more than 63 to the U.S. dollar by 4:10 p.m. The ruble's fall directly affects the price of most medications in Russia, which imported about 75 percent of all its medicine as of September last year, according to DSM Group, a pharmaceutical market research company.
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INC News, 07/01/2015
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