In the absence of labels, some drugs cannot be found on the market

Since December of last year, the Medicines Agency has failed to complete the tender for the supply of banners, causing many medicines to be missing from pharmacies. The regular tender is still under consideration in the Procurement Review Body and a quarterly tender was signed days ago, but it is not known when the temporary supply will start

Quite a few citizens have chosen alternative ways to secure the drugs they need, in the absence of them in the private pharmaceutical market.

Through groups created on Facebook they have been looking for specific drugs that they cannot find in the market. Simple medicines are among them.

Representatives of economic operators have told TIME that the lack of medicines is happening because the Kosovo Agency for Medical Products has not supplied them with banners for weeks, without which the products cannot be put on the market.

The Agency has not responded to this. KOHA tried to contact the head of this institution, Sejdë Tolaj, but he did not answer the calls either.

Sources within this institution said that the Agency is facing problems for signing the contract in the regular tender for the supply of banners and that as a result blockades have started in the pharmaceutical market.

The e-procurement website states that several procurement procedures are active for the purchase of two types of banners. One of them, worth 90 euros, according to the data on this page, ended on Thursday, but it is not known when the banners will be supplied. The contract is temporary, with a term of 3 months. And another tender for banners, worth half a million euros, has been blocked in the Procurement Review Body, due to a company's complaint.

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In the tender file for quarterly supply, it is explained about the problems that the Agency has faced in the process of supplying banners.

"AKPPM announced this procedure in December 2022, but several times since then, based on sample control reports from the Kosovo Agency for Forensics, economic operators have not met the security criteria of the banner. As an institution, we have carried out two price quotation procedures to fill the lack of banners, but it is impossible based on the demands we have from the pharmaceutical market. Also, the case for a framework contract is in the PRB, due to a complaint we received from an economic operator. Therefore, based on Article 46 of the Law on Public Procurement, we as the Contracting Authority have decided to shorten the deadline for the submission of tenders", it is stated in this file.

Banners are key elements for regulating the pharmaceutical market. They were placed on medical products that must be sold with a doctor's prescription. Banners for hospital drugs differ from those of the private pharmaceutical market based on color.