Pharmaceutical suppliers predict a more severe shortage of pharmaceuticals and further price hikes after the cash-starved regime introduced a new regulation requiring them to show export earnings if they want to import medicines.
Suppliers said they were told that they can only import medicines if they can show export earnings as of Sept. 1, and that their previous pharmaceutical import permits had been cancelled by the junta’s Foreign Exchange Supervisory Committee (FESC).
That means 716 pharmaceutical import permits of 116 companies worth US$ 103.822 million have been voided. The companies will now have to submit new applications to the FESC together with by statements of their export earnings.
Pharmaceuticals were previously labeled as essential goods under the Essential Supplies and Services Law, which meant they could be imported and paid for with foreign currency earned by any means. Suppliers said the new regulation means a lengthy process in acquiring the US dollars needed to pay for imports.
Common medicines, antibiotics as well as drugs for chronic diseases including insulin for diabetic patients are in short supply in Myanmar and their prices have surged.
One pharmaceutical supplier said: “Prices for all medicines tend to increase every few days.”
Faced with a shortage of hard currency, the regime has adopted various measures to control imports and export earnings. Exporters are required to convert a certain percentage of their export earnings into kyats at the official exchange rate, which is much lower than the market rate. Other regulations require the value of exports to match that of imports.
Since late last year, the regime has lost almost all of its overland trade with neighboring countries after ethnic armies in eastern, northern and western Myanmar seized border areas. It decided to go after pharmaceutical imports now because it only has maritime trade left to earn US dollars, business owners explained.
Before the 2021 coup, the process of applying for permits for pharmaceutical imports only took two weeks, but now it takes months and some applications may be refused altogether, they added.
Even the price of basic medicines like painkillers has increased three-fold from 500 kyats per sheet in 2021 to 1,500 kyats now, according to pharmacies in Yangon.
One Yangon resident said shortages are getting worse. “Medicines have become increasingly scarce this year. We can’t find the drugs prescribed by doctors and we have to take similar ones. Prices have increased at least three times,” he said. “Kidney drugs are very hard to find. We have to buy some through doctors from families of patients who have died. For every 10 kinds of medicine we need, five can’t be found in the market.”
The price hikes are partly due to the depreciation of the kyat since the coup. A dollar traded for around 1,300 kyats before the coup but is more than 6,000 kyats now.
In July, some free clinics that provided dialysis for kidney patients were forced to close after they could not buy dialysis fluid, he added. One type of drug used in kidney dialysis has also been out of stock.
A medical student providing healthcare services for displaced people in a conflict zone said: “Normally, we operate with contributions from donors, but these days the donors are also struggling. The prices of medicines have also surged, and it’s difficult to buy them. And even if you can afford to pay you can’t find some medicines.”
Myanmar’s domestic pharmaceuticals production can only meet 15 percent of demand, and the country relies heavily on imports from China, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Thailand, according to the Myanmar Pharmaceutical & Medical Equipment Entrepreneurs Association.
