One in four people have to go without medication

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Just go to the pharmacy. Show the doctor’s prescription. And what you want is to walk away with the medicine? This is becoming less and less common these days. The Swiss healthcare system is struggling with drug delivery bottlenecks. Both prescription and over-the-counter medications. Patients feel it, as a survey by the comparison service Comparis shows.

A quarter of those surveyed said they had not taken the medication they wanted in the past six months. In families with children, it is almost one out of every three households. The situation is dramatic because vital drugs are among them. “It’s important that the federal government in Bern does something quickly to combat supply bottlenecks in medicine,” says Compparis health expert Felix Schneuwly, 63.

Children especially suffer

There have never been such big bottlenecks in Switzerland in the recent past. Because now there is a shortage not only of important drugs, but also of medical products and above all personnel. “The fact that children in particular are suffering from the medical supply bottleneck shows how wrong health policy has been over the past decade. We don’t solve problems with savings packages,” Schneuwly criticized.

To increase supply security, more drugs must be re-manufactured in Switzerland, even if they later become more expensive. However, increased international cooperation is also advocated. Specifically: According to the Comparis study, 65 percent of respondents favor increased cooperation between Switzerland and other countries so that important drugs and medical products can be offered by several manufacturers. 60 percent want Switzerland to allow the import of drugs and medical products.

Distribute drugs in rations

More than half of those surveyed would welcome this if drugs were increasingly rationed in Switzerland instead of the current fixed pack sizes. This way, only as many tablets as are actually needed for therapy will be sold and few patients will be able to benefit from it. However, this will increase costs.

Source :Blick