Kazakhstanis can complain about excessive prices for medicines through a mobile application
On a regular basis, once every six months, the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan approves by its order maximum prices for medicines for retail and wholesale. This avoids speculation in the pharmaceutical market and an unreasonable increase in drug prices.
The order stipulates that the price of medicines in all pharmacies of the country should not exceed the established limit prices. The cost of each drug is prescribed separately.
For public monitoring and price control for the population, a mobile application “DARI.KZ” has been developed, where everyone can check if the price of the necessary medicine is exceeded in the pharmacy. If the price is exceeded, you can immediately send a complaint in the application. The submitted complaint is checked by the territorial divisions of the Committee for Quality and Safety of Goods and Services of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Since the beginning of the year, the DARI.KZ mobile application has received 191 requests from individuals regarding exceeding the approved maximum price for medicines.
Given the current tense situation of the availability of drugs in pharmacies, which is often tried to take advantage of for speculation purposes, monitoring groups have been set up under akimats to verify compliance with the maximum retail and wholesale prices for medicines. It also analyzes the information of referral services providing data on the availability and price of medicines by region (i-teka, MPI, Pharmgorodok, Hippocrates, 103.kz, Biosphere).
The territorial divisions of the Committee for Quality and Safety of Goods and Services, together with employees of the Department of Economic Investigation of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as other government bodies, carry out inspections of pharmacy organizations for excessive prices for medicines and personal protective equipment, including masks.
According to the Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Administrative Offenses” for violation of the rules of the wholesale and retail sale of medicines, if it did not cause harm to human health, entails a fine on individuals – in the amount of 70 (seventy), for officials – in the amount of 100 (one hundred ), for small businesses – in the amount of one hundred and thirty, for medium-sized businesses – in the amount of 200 (two hundred), for large businesses – in the amount of 1000 (one thousand) monthly calculation indices.
In all cases of an excess of the maximum prices for medicines will be taken to bring to justice in accordance with applicable law.
It should be noted that the order of the Minister of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated July 15, 2019, No. ДР ДСМ-104 “On Approving the Limit Prices for the Trade Name of the Medicinal Product for Retail and Wholesale Sales”, where the marginal prices for medicines are indicated, can be found on the KKKBTU MH RK websites, “National Center for Expertise of Medicines and Medical Devices”, as well as in the regulatory framework of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan.