The Ukrainian government has no money but plans to 'invest' in starting a public network of pharmacies to compete with the private pharmacies.
"KYIV, February 7 /UKRINFORM/. The government opens a network of state drugstores where prices will be 30% less against commercial drugstores.
For this, the authorized fund of the Ukrposhta (Ukrainian state-run mail service enterprise) will be increased by UAH 150 million (USD 1/UAH 8.00), so that by the end of 2010, 500 state drugstores will be set up on its basis, First Vice Prime Minister Oleksandr Turchynov has said following a ceremony of opening the first state drugstore in Kyiv on the basis of the Ukrposhta enterprise."
Likely scenarios for the future
1) optimistic scenario: there will no money to actually implement this plan
2) pessimistic scenario: a couple of years from now, the low price public pharmacies are in need of constant subsidization. Private pharmacies cannot compete in the subsidized market segment and concentrate on the higher quality import segment. Given their lower turn-over, prices they charge are higher than before the start-up of the public network.
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