Georgian Health Minister: citizens to save $69 mln thanks to import of Turkish-made medicines

Georgian Health Minister Zurab Azarashvili on Monday said calculations showed Georgian customers would save about ₾200 million ($69 mln) thanks to the Government initiatives of importing medicines from the Turkish market and implementing reference prices on the domestic market this year.

In his comments to journalists following the weekly Government meeting, Azarashvili said the Government’s expectations were based on the experience of countries where similar practices had been introduced, causing a drop of between 40 and 70 percent in the prices of medical drugs.

The Minister said he believed both the opening of the Turkish market - designed by the Government as a measure to effect a reduction of high prices of medicines on the domestic Georgian market by introduction of competitive pricing - and the implementation of reference prices were “important projects” for the country. 

He also noted international experts from different countries were working together with the Georgian Health Ministry, and with the support of the World Bank, to successfully determine reference prices for medicines.

The initiative for importing drugs produced through good manufacturing practices on the Turkish market came last year from Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, who cited the considerable gap between the cost of medicines on the Turkish market and prices in Georgia.

In March, Garibashvili estimated the medication prices in the country had been reduced by 60-80 percent as a result of the first batches of pharmaceuticals imported.