Is there any reason in the bill in vending machines to offer non-prescription drugs?
"There are big problems in our health care. There are also tiny ones. The topic can be classified under the rubric of small problems or absent problems. The big question we have to ask ourselves is whether people will be helped. With an election coming up, instead of talking about the strategic things in health care, we're going to talk about vending machines. In Bulgaria, we are one of the countries with many pharmacies. Big stores are concentrated in big cities. Why don't we be honest and tell people that in a town with 200 people, neither a pharmacy nor a vending machine will work".
This was stated by the former Minister of Health Dr. Stefan Konstantinov in "Denyat ON AIR".
In his words, even if a pharmacy is built to support it, someone will have to buy the drugs.
"In these vending machines, drugs will be sold without a doctor's prescription. What are these over-the-counter drugs that are life-saving? Is there a person who does not have paracetamol and alcohol in their house? In these settlements in question, in one place I saw that they were 2% of the population. Even under socialism, it was not possible for every tile to have a pharmacy or a vending machine," added Dr. Konstantinov for Bulgaria ON AIR.
A much more important topic is the question of 24-hour pharmacies, because not having one in a regional town is a problem, he is categorical.
"Summer is 40 degrees, winter drops to minus 20 degrees. Can they be stored like this? Elderly people have chronic diseases, they are maintained with prescription drugs. They are poor, they don't buy medicines, they go to the GP to prescribe them. We will do nothing to these people. People who are involved in politics, we see the level going down and finding fights in non-existent things. There is talk that the state will finance these machines", the guest also pointed out.
According to Dr. Konstantinov, such debates will not motivate people to vote.
"Price in a market economy is born in competition. With us, everything always depends on the specific interest of the person. Our sense of the common interest of the state is absent. Politicians are the face, but in the type of country we live in, there are quite different forces behind them and they don't want to annoy them," commented the former health minister.