Moldovan Health Ministry says number of beneficiaries of compensated medicines increases

Chisinau, 30 December /MOLDPRES/ - The number of beneficiaries of compensated medicines has increased. Also, the expenses borne by patients when buying partially compensated medicines, meant for the treatment of chronic diseases, dropped by over 50 per cent, as a result of the enforcement of a new calculation methodology. The state secretary at the Health Ministry, Zinaida Bezverhni and the director general of the National Health Insurances Company (CNAM), Ion Dodon, made statements to this effect at a news conference today.     

According to the quoted source, the expenditures from the funds of the Mandatory Health Insurances (AOAM) for the compensated preparations released in last November grew by about 9 million lei against October 2021 and thus reached about 63 million lei. The biggest share of expenses belonged to the medicines meant for the treatment of the cardiovascular diseases, for which decision-makers allocated by 4.4 million lei more in last November against the average size for the first ten months of 2021.     

„In last November, the patients’ expenses for the partially compensated medicines, meant for the treatment of chronic diseases, decreased by 57.3 per cent and the number of commercial names of medicines provided for free doubled, from 92 positions to 172 ones. At the same time, In November 2021, about 324,000 recipes for partially compensated medicines were prescribed and turned to account in drug stores, which is by 17,000 more against the average size for the first ten months of 2021. These figures speak about the efficiency of the new technology and about the fact that the residents’ access to medicines enhances,’’ Dodon said.    

„The number of medicines provided to patients free of charge has doubled. The mechanism of medicines’ compensation was introduced in 2005. At that time, only 35 names of medication were on list, while now there are 159. We are also to inform about other actions of the Health Ministry and the National Health Insurances Company, meant to ensure the residents’ better access both to compensated medicines and compensated medical devices. The access to medicines does not mean only physical presence of preparations in drug stores, but also the economic access – when the patient does not have high expenses following medicines’ administering,’’ Zinaida Bezverhni said.      

Health Ministry’s data shows that 712,000 patients benefited from compensated medication in the first 11 months of 2021.

Photo: Health Ministry