Sasko Presents Draft Amendment to Drugs Policy, Several Changes Involved

Bratislava, 1 December (TASR) - Health Minister Kamil Sasko (Voice-SD) on Monday presented a draft amendment to the drugs policy, which should streamline the management of new drugs entering the market, make drugs for children and patients with serious illnesses more accessible, and adjust the conditions for reimbursing the cost of drugs on an exceptional basis. The draft amendment also introduces measures to reduce illegal re-exports, to keep drugs within the reimbursement mechanism, and to ensure that critically unavailable drugs are available. The minister is convinced that the proposed changes will significantly improve the system and patients' access to drugs. He also emphasised that he's submitting the proposal for inter-ministerial review and that every comment will be discussed. The minister called on experts and the public to participate in commenting on the proposal. He said that he wants the comments to be evaluated in his presence and transparently, while noting that, in addition to the draft legislation, he's also submitting related decrees to the inter-ministerial review. "The Health Ministry will be completely open for the next 14 or 15 weeks. We'll conduct a completely transparent discussion so that, ideally, such a law will be submitted to Parliament for debate at its April session next spring, and so that this legislation can come into force as early as next autumn," he added. am/df