Chance for Greece to review and revamp the healthcare system is Now

Earlier this month, the Greek trade body Hellenic Association of Pharmaceutical Companies (SFEE) and the Foundation of Economic & Industrial Research (IOBE) held a special conference to launch a publication, The pharmaceutical market in Greece: Facts & Figures 2019, where the sector’s contribution to the country’s economy was discussed.

The current report coincides with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic which has raised serious challenges in many countries in the world. Beyond the high toll in human lives, patients and excruciating pressure on the national health systems, the cease / restriction of economic activities in many sectors has brought about economic recession and soaring unemployment.

In the field of medicines expenditure, the overall out-patient pharmaceutical expenditure in Greece is estimated at 3.9 billion euros ($4.39 billion) in 2019 (of which only a mere 1.945 euros is funded by the public sector). The load of this expenditure was shifted to the patients and the private sector, the greatest part being undertaken by the pharma industry, through the compulsory clawbacks and rebates it incurs. The estimates on the overall sum of the pharma companies’ additional over-taxation reach 2 billion euros, for 2020 alone.