President of the Health Insurance Organisation (HIO), Stavros Michail has described the HIO’s participation in the Pharmaceutical Pricing and Reimbursement Network (PPRI) as very important. The two-day conference of the Network began on Thursday, in Larnaca. In statements to CNA, Michail expressed satisfaction with the fact that HIO is hosting this “very important conference’ of the PPRI network, which has to do with the drug prices and the way in which the negotiations are carried out, but also the whole process to ensure both the medicines, so that there are no shortages, as well as the prices that a Health System can afford. “One of the problems we face in Cyprus is that we are a small market and our bargaining power with pharmaceutical companies is very weak,” he said. He added that 60 delegates from 24 countries are participating in the conference, including countries outside Europe such as Brazil, Canada and Saudi Arabia. During the two-day conference, which is being held for the first time in Cyprus, the delegates will have the opportunity to be informed and exchange information and discuss issues of common interest through the networking of the competent Authorities for pricing and reimbursement of pharmaceutical products. The PPRI network meets annually in various European cities and participation has extended beyond European countries, while the Ministry of Health and HIO have been participating since the start of the network’s operation which for the first time is being held in Cyprus. The seminar is attended by Sabine Vogler, President of the Health Institute of Austria and head of the Organisation as well as delegates from the World Health Organisation. In her statements, Vogler said that countries have the same challenges and it is good to have exchanges. This was the reason, she added, why they began the project and in the first two years, it was co funded by the European Commission. Later on it was fully sustainable with funding from the Austrian Ministry of Health and the contributions of countries, not financial contributions, but in the sense of hosting the meetings. The network, she noted, has 50 countries and it is a network of competent authorities, for those people doing daily work, from the policymakers to the technical experts, so that they can exchange views. All this, she concluded, is happening to the benefit of the patients.
Source: Cyprus News Agency