This has been on the news lately...
The number of prescription medications that are unavailable in Polish pharmacies now reached 500 and is growing.
serwisy.gazetaprawna.pl/zdrowie/artykuly/1421060,brak-lekow-w-aptekach-list-do-ministra-zdrowia.html
Interestingly the term 'nielegalny wywóz' (illegal export) is used repeatedly (not smuggling which would be przemyt) without explanation and it took some digging to find out what that is and why Polish news sites don't really describe it.
After a bit of digging it turns out that since prescription medications are cheaper in Poland than in Germany (by about a factor of 4) drugs are bought (technically illegally but...) repackaged and sent off to Germany for that aging (but better off economically) country. This is also a big problem in Romania and Bulgaria.
There are other issues (reduction of production in China, EU regulations which never make anything easier) but illegal export is cited as one (usually the main) reason in just about every report I can find. Interestingly the stories don't mention which direction the export is (feel free to speculate as to why that might be....)
I'm on two continuous prescriptions (which I could easily live without though things are bit easier with them than without). I haven't had any trouble finding them yet (just got a three month prescription filled a week or two ago). But many people are in much worse shape, unable to find medicines they need to survive.
The number of prescription medications that are unavailable in Polish pharmacies now reached 500 and is growing.
serwisy.gazetaprawna.pl/zdrowie/artykuly/1421060,brak-lekow-w-aptekach-list-do-ministra-zdrowia.html
Interestingly the term 'nielegalny wywóz' (illegal export) is used repeatedly (not smuggling which would be przemyt) without explanation and it took some digging to find out what that is and why Polish news sites don't really describe it.
After a bit of digging it turns out that since prescription medications are cheaper in Poland than in Germany (by about a factor of 4) drugs are bought (technically illegally but...) repackaged and sent off to Germany for that aging (but better off economically) country. This is also a big problem in Romania and Bulgaria.
There are other issues (reduction of production in China, EU regulations which never make anything easier) but illegal export is cited as one (usually the main) reason in just about every report I can find. Interestingly the stories don't mention which direction the export is (feel free to speculate as to why that might be....)
I'm on two continuous prescriptions (which I could easily live without though things are bit easier with them than without). I haven't had any trouble finding them yet (just got a three month prescription filled a week or two ago). But many people are in much worse shape, unable to find medicines they need to survive.