During a working meeting with representatives of the pharmaceutical industry, the Minister of Health of the Kyrgyz Republic, Kanbek Dosmambetov, emphasized the issues of purchasing medications for cancer patients. He noted that this area requires special attention and well-thought-out decisions.
The Minister pointed out that the Ministry of Health faces serious questions regarding clinical feasibility in a number of purchases. In particular, he cited the example of the purchase of the drug 'Kitruda' (pembrolizumab), carried out by the state enterprise 'Kyrgyzpharmacia' without the necessary accompanying documents, which could lead to certain risks.
“The purchase amount was about 80 million soms, but the acquired volume of the drug allows for the treatment of only about six patients at the fourth stage of cancer,” noted Dosmambetov.The Minister emphasized that in this context, a justified question arises about the rationality of using budget funds. Similar financial resources could have been directed towards purchasing medications for treating patients at earlier stages, which would allow for a larger number of people to be covered and increase the chances of recovery.
“Oncological drugs should not become a field for marketing experiments and profit-making. Every decision in this area should be evaluated in terms of the number of lives saved,” added the Minister.In this context, the unacceptability of unethical marketing, manipulation of applications, pressure on medical workers, and the replacement of clinical indications with commercial interests was voiced.
It was also noted that under the conditions of tightening responsibility for official crimes, all violations in the field of drug provision will receive strict legal assessment.
