No to price increases in medicines

Fight now for free medicines for the people

The governments’ criminal policies in public healthcare have deadly results with the huge shortages of medicines at a time when infections are on the rise.

After the thousands of deaths from the pandemic that continue to this day and the laws imposed to dismantle public hospitals, they choose to deprive the people of widely used medicines such as analgesics, antipyretics and even pediatric drugs!

This is not a “failure”, nor is it a seasonal shortage. It is a choice to continually sacrifice the health of the people on the altar of a policy that considers even medicines as a commodity and therefore to be marketed on the basis of the greatest possible profit.

That is why, in the EU’s ‘free market’, the multinationals’ choices are either to make patients pay more for the medicines they need or to export them in order to increase their profitability even more.

The Greek government’s measures of temporary restriction of exports, or the compulsory declaration of stocks by pharmacies, are tailor-made for the field of competitors between business groups, since they not only hide the real cause of the problem, but reinforce the blackmail that ultimately results in higher prices.

Thus, instead of restoring the sufficiency of medicines, the government has also opted for a new increase in prices.

And all this at a time when all the possibilities exist in science, technology and production, with the necessary qualified scientific and technical staff to develop research and production, in order to ensure the sufficiency of medicines for all and free of charge.

PAME calls on all trade unions to strengthen the organised and collective struggle so that no one is left without medicine.

To ban parallel exports without asterisks and exceptions.

All necessary measures should be taken immediately to ensure free of charge all necessary medicines to those who need them.