PM Garibashvili announces start of medication imports from Turkey to reduce local costs

Georgia will import high-quality medicines from Turkey to effect a “significant” reduction of the cost of drugs on the Georgian market, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said in a government session on Monday.

The Georgian PM made the announcement as an update on a recent initiative of his team to ensure a reduction of the general prices of medicine for citizens, citing the considerable gap between the cost of the drugs produced using good manufacturing practices (GMP) on the Turkish market and Georgia.

"As promised, we signed the government decree today - the Turkish market has already been opened and high quality GMP-standard medications and pharmaceutical drugs will be imported”, the PM said.

Garibashvili gave examples of the costs of some of the most in-demand drugs on the local market reaching 10 GEL ($3.2/€2.8), in contrast to their equivalents only costing between 1-2 GEL in Turkey.

The head of the government added he hoped importing companies would ensure “high-quality medicines” would enter the local market through the move, adding the Georgian National Competition Agency had completed the work on a market research and sent relevant recommendations to both the parliament and the government.

Garibashvili stressed the importance of monitoring medication prices, revealing a working group involving MPs from relevant parliamentary committees and the health ministry would be set up to work on the legislation for further work on medication costs.