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Czech pharmacies illegally export medications worth nearly 6 mln USD: SUKL

Xinhua, January 19, 2017 Adjust font size:

Czech State Institute for Drug Control (SUKL) published on Wednesday the results of inspection that revealed the illegal drug exports by the Czech pharmacies worth around 149 million crowns (about 5.96 million U.S. dollars).

SUKL head Zdenek Blahuta said that major part of the illegal exports, mainly medications for angina and diabetes treatment, went to Slovakia, while the other part went to Germany.

Czech pharmacies tend to complain about a shortage of medications for angina, diabetes, epilepsy, asthma and antidepressants, according to the report.

Zdenek said that the illegal export created a dead-end situation in the country, where certain types of drugs are badly needed at home while local pharmacies exported them overseas.

This is not the first time that Czech pharmacies are found ignoring the law and public health.

In 2016, SUKL imposed 34 million crowns (about 1.36 million dollars) penalty on Czech drug stores for the similar illegal export operations.

Zdenek said the inspections will continue this year.

Czech Parliament in coming weeks will consider a new amendment to the law on drugs aimed to intensify the monitoring of medications sale and export. Endit