Russia not experiencing shortage of medicines - deputy health minister

MOSCOW. April 3 (Interfax) - Russia is not experiencing a shortage of medicines with international nonproprietary names, even though certain tradenames may have left the country, Russian Deputy Health Minister Sergei Glagolev said.

"We can state today that there is no shortage of medicines with international nonproprietary names in Russia, even though some tradenames have left the country," Glagolev said at a conference at the Federation Council on Monday, which focused on ways to improve mechanisms for providing medicine to patients suffering from life-threatening and chronic diseases.

Over the past year, Russia has faced "massive challenges, including those posed by the countries of the collective West, which have failed to fundamentally disrupt not only the current medicine supply system, but also its development, which is proceeding in line with previously established objectives and aims to achieve national goals set by the Russian president," he said.

Russia has established stocktaking for vital and critical medicines in real time, he said.