Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Denmark have signed a cooperation agreement in Brussels to start jointly purchasing medicines. EU health ministers also agreed on new rules to help ensure essential medicines reach people in all member states.
Together, small countries are able to order larger quantities, which helps them get better prices and more reliable delivery terms, the Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs announced on social media.
Estonia has long faced the problem that new medicines reach the country nearly two years later than they arrive in other larger markets.
Price applications are submitted in Estonia on average 738 days later than in Western Europe, even though Estonia’s own process is fast and involves little bureaucracy, the ministry said.
On Monday in Brussels, European Union health ministers also agreed on new rules to help ensure essential medicines reach people in all member states, including the smaller ones.
Read more: ERR.EE
