The price of pharmaceuticals has risen and stocks are low ahead of the release of new 20,000 kyats banknotes by Myanmar’s junta this month.
After the note announcement, the US dollar rate hit nearly 3,500 kyats, which affected the drugs market as Myanmar imports around 85 percent of its medicines.
Drugs for high-blood pressure, coronary heart disease, antibiotics for lung problems and diabetes have increased by 10 to 40 percent this week after steady rises for a year with some companies currently halting sales, according to Yangon pharmacists.
The prices of contraceptive medicines like OK and Marvelon 28 had risen 15 to 76 percent by Tuesday.
“All prescription medicine prices have increased. We have to sell at 10 percent higher than the original price but some pharmacies sell at higher prices,” a North Okkalapa Township pharmacist told The Irrawaddy.
Another pharmacist said the weak kyat affected some distributors, with some companies storing medicines knowing prices would rise ahead of the banknote release.
“Patients are forced to buy alternative, worse medicines at a higher price,” a distributor told The Irrawaddy.
Patients who were buying the Portuguese medicine Cinnarizine, for instance, are now looking for alternatives from Thailand, which might be lower quality.
A Yangon resident said she is struggling to find liver cancer medicines for her brother.
“The pharmacy could not help me and a private hospital refused to sell them to me and told me to go back to my brother’s hospital. I was really angry. Why do they want to be so difficult?” she told The Irrawaddy.
She bought a reduced quantity of medicines at a private hospital at an inflated price.
The new 20,000 kyats banknotes have sparked fears of inflation and led to hoarding among consumers who can afford to buy in large quantities, boosting inflationary pressures.
A North Dagon Township resident told The Irrawaddy: “I normally buy blood pressure and diabetes medicines for my father for a month but now I get them only for a week.”
