Dolinkova Praises EU's Efforts to Ensure Availability of Medicines

Brussels, November 30 (TASR-correspondent) - Slovakia supports Europe-wide efforts to ensure the availability of medicines, Health Minister Zuzana Dolinkova (Voice-SD) said following a session of the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) in Brussels on Thursday. "I am pleased that encouraging measures have been taken, such as creating a list of critical medicines, which should be ready by the end of this year. Subsequently, an analysis should also be done in relation to the distribution and supply of medicines," the minister said, explaining that the meeting was dedicated to building the strategic autonomy of the EU from a health perspective, with an emphasis on the shortage of medicines in the Union. Dolinkova praised the creation of an alliance for critical medicines and the establishment of a platform for monitoring shortage medicines within the Union. "I stressed that medicines are not mere commodities. They are special goods because they save people's health and lives. That is why we need to look intensively at the issue of their parallel re-export," she said. As for the shortage of medicines, the minister noted that the discussion will continue because the issue affects every EU-member country. zel/mcs