Over 2,000 import permits for delivery of medicines to the Transnistrian region granted in the last 11 months
The Moldovan authorities have issued more than two thousand import authorisations for the supply of medicines to the Transnistrian region since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. Dragoș Guțu, director of the Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices, told Radio Moldova. Currently, according to the official, there is no shortage of medicines in localities on the left bank of the Dniester.
During the past year, more than half of all authorisations for importing medicines into Moldova were issued to companies in the Transnistrian region. Last year, the Moldovan authorities issued around 2,000 import authorisations for medicines, which were supplied to the left bank of the Dniester, the director of the Medicines and Medical Devices Agency, Dragos Gutu, explained. Currently there is no impediment for importing medicines, he said, as by the decision of the Commission for Exceptional Situations, distributors in the Transnistrian region, during the state of emergency, can import extra quantities of key medicines.
"There are eight pharmaceutical dealers in the Transnistrian region, all of them are registered as enterprises in the Republic of Moldova with the Public Services Agency and import on a regular basis. Over 11 months of the year, from the outbreak of the armed conflict in Ukraine until the first of February, around 2,000 authorisations have been given to them, of which about 1,500 are for registered medicines and 500 for medicines not registered in the Republic of Moldova. That's more authorisations than were given to distributors in the Republic of Moldova. They are really at an advantage, because they are allowed to import essential medicines even if they are not registered in the Republic of Moldova", stated Dragos Gutu.
Last year, the alleged authorities in Tiraspol reported several problems with imports of medicines and a shortage of products in pharmacies. The so-called Foreign Ministry in Tiraspol claimed last spring that in addition to the detained medicines, the Republic of Moldova denies to issue authorisations for the import of new batches, causing a shortage of medicines on the left bank of the Dniester.
In a comment to Radio Moldova, representatives of the Reintegration Policy Office pointed out that no cases of refusal of requests for importing medicines to the Transnistrian region have been registered. Moreover, the Commission convenes twice a month in meetings set exclusively for distributors in the region, issuing permissions within 3-5 days as a priority.
