Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev ordered the allocation of money from the reserve fund for the purchase of medicines for children suffering from chronic diseases with pain and convulsive syndromes. The head of government announced the signing of the relevant document on social networks.
“Some forms of necessary preparations (suppositories, syrups, solutions) are currently produced only abroad, and manufacturers do not register them in Russia. Now the problem is being solved: to arrange until the end of 2023 the release of all the necessary forms in our country in order to provide children with the right painkillers, ”Medvedev wrote.
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In particular, we are talking about drugs such as diazepam, phenobarbital, midazolam in 10 dosage forms that are not produced in Russia, as well as clobazam. According to the charity funds and the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, about three thousand children need them.
Before they manage to establish their own production, these drugs will be promptly purchased and imported on a systematic legal basis. “This will provide quality pain relief for children in need. And doctors will be able to prescribe such drugs to patients, ”the head of government added.
Term for the parcel
Diazepam, phenobarbital, midazolam and clobazam (also known as Frizium) are psychotropic drugs whose circulation in Russia is limited, and their illegal acquisition, storage and transportation are prosecuted under article 228 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and can be punishable by 15 years in prison. Mothers who ordered their children the necessary medicines by mail repeatedly became defendants in criminal cases.
So, in 2018, the mother of a sick child with a disability, Muscovite Ekaterina Konnova decided to sell the unused psychotropic drug diazepam in microclysters. She was facing a prison term for drug trafficking. The case gained wide resonance, and soon the criminal prosecution of the woman was discontinued.
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In July 2019, another Muscovite Elena Bogolyubova was accused of drug smuggling. The woman ordered the Fresium anticonvulsant for her son and was detained at the post office. After the intervention of Vera Foundation founder Nyuta Federmesser, the case against her was also closed. A similar case occurred in mid-August. A Muscovite was detained at the post office upon receipt of the Frisium for her child. Then the Prosecutor General's Office canceled the initiation of a criminal case.
Families of sick people were forced to buy unregistered drugs in Russia because affordable domestic counterparts did not help them.
According to the professor of the Department of Nervous Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Moscow State Medical University named after Evdokimova, a member of the expert council of the Russian Antiepileptic League Pavel Vlasov, there are so-called pharmacoresistant epilepsies, when several drugs have been tested to treat the disease, but they are not effective enough. Therefore, any expansion of the spectrum of antiepileptic drugs is beneficial to patients and doctors.
“Klobazam is effective in almost all types of epileptic seizures, with the exception of absences (non-convulsive seizures),” Pavel Vlasov explained to RT. “Unlike clonazepam (the drug also belongs to the group of benzodiazepines), clobazam does not develop mental and physical dependence, despite its prolonged use.”
"Doctors were afraid to prescribe drugs"
Until now, there has simply not been a mechanism for the centralized import of such drugs into the country, says Anastasia Zhdanova, lawyer for the Vera Foundation, an expert on palliative care legislation.
“Previously, parents could only go abroad with a medical prescription, buy drugs there and return. Of course, this method was not available to everyone, which provoked the acquisition of these drugs on the illegal market, including by ordering by mail. No government agency in Russia was obliged to purchase these drugs, even if the patient had an appointment made by a council of the federal medical organization. That is, the parents solved the problem themselves, ”she explained to RT.
In order to get an appointment from a doctor, problems also arose, said Tatyana Kravchenko, chief freelance specialist for palliative care at the Moscow Department of Health.
“Previously, unfortunately, doctors often gave only oral advice to parents that their child needs these drugs. Some doctors were simply afraid to prescribe them, but someone, for example, lacked competence, ”she explained to RT.
It is very important to understand that all appointments should be medical, emphasizes Kravchenko.
Now, thanks to the development of a real mechanism for importing drugs, in fact, any specialist who has such patients can initiate a meeting of the medical commission in any medical organization where the child in need of drugs is listed. “This is very important, because such children are often significantly limited in their ability to visit clinics,” she says.
Doctors will no longer be afraid to prescribe these drugs, information about patients who need them will be transmitted to the regional Ministry of Health, said Kravchenko. “Further, the regional Ministry of Health will conduct federal consultations using telemedicine technologies. If we have worked out this mechanism - when the doctors, seeing the patient’s need, prescribe the necessary drugs for him, then all the needy children will be provided with them, ”she said.
Prices will go down
The distribution scheme of the drugs themselves will look like this: from abroad, the drugs will be delivered to the Moscow endocrine factory authorized for import, then to regional centers, and from there to local clinics (by request of a medical commission), and finally, directly to patients.
As explained to RT by a source in the Russian government, centralized imports will allow the dealers to be expelled from the market and, as a result, lower drug prices. In particular, a Frizium tablet will cost 20 rubles, while before it was bought at 70 rubles, and when the detention of mothers with parcels began, prices soared to 177 rubles per tablet.
Diazepam in microclysters will be 175 rubles per enema. For comparison: until now, the average cost of one enema was 1.5 thousand rubles.
At the same time, the list of children in need of such drugs will be supplemented, RT experts surveyed say. “We really hope that in the future the Ministry of Health will organize a hotline for both doctors and patients, to clarify all the mechanisms and features of obtaining these drugs. Lists will be supplemented over time, because, firstly, new children appear who need drugs, and secondly, there are material medical decisions that previously were not in the hands of parents - again, because of the fears of doctors " - says Kravchenko.
Parents of sick children and experts call the decision to import "a huge step forward." “For parents of children who need unregistered drugs, this solution is a very big plus, it will significantly improve the quality of life of patients,” Tatyana Kravchenko notes. - After all, these drugs are used to prevent attacks of epilepsy. Each attack is the death of cells in the cerebral cortex, that is, the loss of functions that, perhaps, the child has not yet developed, and after the next attack, they may never develop again. ”
Earlier, the Secretariat of Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova reported that by the end of October it is planned to import at least 10 thousand packages of medicines to provide children in need.
“FSUE“ Moscow Endocrine Plant ”sent a request to foreign manufacturers about the possibility of supplying at least 10 thousand packages, and with a positive decision, after passing all the procedural measures, it is planned to import drugs in order to provide for needy children at the end of October,” the secretariat said premiere
“Thank you so much that now we do not need to wait for November-December and literally any minute we will be provided with the necessary medicines! We are very happy, because we really need drugs, ”said Ekaterina Konnova to RT.