Drug consumption highest in UAE

DUBAI — The UAE tops the list of Arab countries in the annual consumption of drugs, health officials said, adding that the drug market has increased from $1.56 billion in 2010 to $1.67 billion in 2011.

Officials said that the cost of drugs is one of the major players in the healthcare expenditure, especially for chronic outpatients. The UAE spent nearly $8.5 billion on healthcare in 2010.

Addressing the gathering at the first Gulf Pharmacoeconomics Conference on Tuesday, a senior official from the Health Ministry said unaffordable drugs could keep patients away from availing proper and timely healthcare.

“This, in turn, will affect productivity and ultimately the GDP adversely, so it is the responsibility of regulators to provide less expensive alternatives with expected standard outcomes,” said Dr Amin Al Amiri, Assistant Undersecretary, Medical Practices.

“These alternatives will also help decrease the national burden on the healthcare system,” he added.

Quoting latest figures from Business Monitor International (BMI), Dr Amiri said that healthcare costs in the UAE had increased by 9.8 per cent from $8.97 billion in 2010 to $9.85 billion in the third quarter of 2011.

Detailing the steps taken by the ministry to protect the patients from being affected by the price increase, he said the drugs were being priced as such to contain the increase in the high exchange rates of European currencies.

“Unifying the currency in dollar instead of Euro for the Cost Insurance and Freight (CIF) price is also being studied,” he said. The other steps taken include mutual agreements with pharmaceutical companies to reduce prices of 565 innovative products and 115 generic products by 5 to 50 per cent in 2011.

The market for medical devices increased from $797 million in 2010 to $886 million in 2011.

He also said that a major step taken by the ministry towards enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of spending in the health sector was to encourage local manufacturing of less expensive bio-equivalent generic alternatives for expensive imported innovative pharmaceuticals products after their patent expiry. There are eight manufacturing facilities in the UAE currently and six more will be set up soon. As many as 691 products are manufactured locally now.

Professor L. Bootman, senior vice-president for Health Sciences, Dean-College of Pharmacy, Founding Executive Director at the Center for Health Outcomes and Pharmacoeconomics, University of Arizona, USA, said the value, especially the value of pharmaceuticals, is important.

“It’s much easier to measure the cost of healthcare than it is the value of healthcare, or even the value of one component of healthcare, such as medications,” he said.

“The US spent $205 trillion on healthcare in 2010, and the UAE spent nearly $8.5 billion. Those figures represent 17 per cent of the gross domestic product in the US, the highest in the world, and just three per cent in the UAE.

“I urge you to work in research laboratories to find the genetic biomarkers that will lead to the cure of cancer and those designed new devices will replace failed organs,” he added.

asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE