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How do pharmacists explain to patients that they don't have the medicines they need?
euronews (in English)
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27/07/2023
Polish pharmacist Anna Milczarek-Alwaked tells Smart Health about the challenges she faces when key medicines are in short supply.
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News
Transcript
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00:00
European Union health systems can't always deliver patients the medicines they need
00:05
due to temporary shortages or the lack of availability of particular treatments in a given country.
00:11
So how do pharmacists explain this issue to patients?
00:14
One pharmacist in Warsaw, Poland's capital, shares her experience with Smart Health.
00:25
Sometimes patients become aggressive. They are unhappy that I don't have the medicine they need
00:30
and they clearly show their unhappiness.
00:34
When all my explanations have already been undermined, I always do the same thing.
00:38
I explain that there is just one manufacturer of the main substances.
00:42
Everything depends on the manufacturer.
00:45
I tell them that medicines have different prices in the European Union and in the world
00:49
and that for the manufacturer it is always more profitable to sell drugs when the prices are higher.
00:56
Manufacturers export more to whoever has more purchasing power.
00:59
This is what I explain to the patients.
01:02
Of course they are sometimes full of resentment.
01:04
They come and say that they are chronically ill.
01:06
I tell them I don't have what they need and they say they do not have the strength to go to lots of different pharmacies.
01:12
They really need this medicine here and now.
01:17
Then I repeat to them that I can't offer this drug that they have been prescribed
01:21
because at this given moment it is not available here.
01:24
But they insist. They tell me how badly they need this treatment.
01:28
Then sometimes I try to import medicines from abroad, from the European Union,
01:32
but they have a much higher price.
01:34
But if the patient really needs this medicine, they will pay any price to have the treatment provided.
01:40
I have a very wide offer and I want every client to leave my pharmacy with medicine.
01:45
I am not afraid to listen to their criticism, their comments.
01:48
The main problem is the price.
01:50
Most of the unhappy comments we heard of at the counter are about the price of the medicines.
01:55
[Music]
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