Aspirin tango

But as a whole "the drugstorisation of the whole country" grows rapidly. Until recently the citizens needs in the pills that make you feel well and enemas have been successfully satisfied by 2000 state-owned drugstores throughout the country, but today the number of outposts for bandages and "Smekta" grew to 7000 and all are purely private.

Even very early in the morning a common street cleaner is aware of the laws of our "market": what is not profitable for a businessman in one moment is removed and disappears for good even if our native country needs this thing very much. But whatever brings a dashing profit to his pocket -flourishes.

Only a lazy fellow craftsman of mine did not make fuss about "wrong" analgins in newspapers or grunt about it into microphone. And therefore a rare citizen is not aware that s/he could very easily buy a source for his/her health improvement that is not very effective really. But s/he has no choice, that's the trouble. Well ok, s/he will deceive her/himself with a consolatory thought that the drugstore r-r-right over there looks more reliable, and will go there to obtain the necessary potion. Not so long ago Almaty Municipal Pharmaceutical Control Authorities observed that every second drugstore of the Southern Capital sells banned and unregistered in Kazakhstan medications that was smuggled here. Besides, the medicines are stored with violation of temperature conditions. You probably think that strict inspectors with indignation sealed unhealthy buildings? Nothing of the kind: only three violators (when there are about 1000 drugstores in Almaty) were deprived of licenses. Others keep working, sometimes even not having a professional pharmacist in their staff. As for other authorities, except for the scheduled inspections and instructions, the representatives of subdivisions of Pharmacy Committee of RK simply don't have them.

Currently, Kazakhstan imports 90 per cent of medical products. An establishment of the national pharmaceutical industry is not profitable economically. It is possible, for example, to build up a plant that will flood the people's market with relatively cheap tablets in a week. And then what? After that, it is necessary to work for import. In the presence of monsters with two hundreds years reputation in the World Market all the attempts to duplicate their produce are condemned to a failure. Business competition requires quality and reputation. Let's be honest - Kazakhstan has no prospects at all for its own medical products industry. Firstly, there are no initial means for any attempts, although the State Pharmacy Development Program in the Republic (since 1996) exists on paper. Secondly, there's no sense - competition will not be withstood. In addition quite a lot people are interested in longer existence of state purchasing system, not always logical, but always personally profitable. According to the professionals one could think of arranging herbs, bio-additions production - in a word all that the nature is able to help generously. The most complex synthesis, to which huge institutions in the West dedicate years of research and work, is inaccessible for us. Our "Ray of light" is Shymkent Pharmaceutical Plant that produces some reliable products for hospitals. But without government support it's in vain to think about an extension of the list.

Is it possible to fight against smuggling and medicines falsification? It's easy! Even lacking a single item in criminal legislation. There are a lot of instructions, which provide the strict quality control of products, meant for Kazakhstani citizens. First of all, these medical products should be registered. For registration of each of them $3 thousand is collected. And when in other countries new product identification "process" lasts maximum 2 months, in our country it takes half a year and more. Foreigners who wish to settle down honestly in Kazakhstani market shrug their shoulders. Some remain speechless (for a while). Specialists consider that it is necessary to speed up the registration process urgently (you know that it's followed by obligatory certification). At the same time at the hardly clean Indian factories nearly at each corner a huge number of famous companies "twins" is produced and carried to underdeveloped countries by couriers. By the way, fake is very hard to be distinguished from the original: experts achieved perfection in this work. But in Russia there's an amendment to the Law "On people's health": production and sales of falsified medical products will be considered a threat for human life and included under appropriate articles of criminal code. Right up to deprivation of liberty from 3 to 10 years. I doubt, of course, whether it will scare clandestine pharmacists - they will be more careful and look for new markets. The business is too profitable to be abandoned.

One can be consoled by WHO report that in the world pharmaceutical market 30 per cent of medical products are falsified currently. May be, but one is not consoled. No wish to be a silly guinea-pig. It's absolutely obvious that pharmaceutical system in the country is a quickly fattening mafia. And too austere pharmacy committee is an authority as if specially designed for assistance in illegal wholesale supply process. The State doesn't see the problem, or doesn't want to see it. In fact even the smallest of rank and file figures - street peddlers with God knows what tablets and tinctures at their treys are not forced to go bhind bars - they easy work off their subcircuit.