Kaliningrad factor: due to sanctions, a shortage of vital drugs has formed in the region

First of all, medicines that require compliance with a strict temperature regime were under the threat of extinction.

In the near future, the Russians will face an acute shortage of imported cosmetics – they fell into the tenth package of sanctions. However, there is a region in the country that has already felt these problems in full – due to serious logistical problems in Kaliningrad and the Kaliningrad region, which do not have a land border with the rest of the country, not only cosmetics, but also vital medicines are in short supply. This “MK” was told by local experts.

Recently, the Public Council under Roszdravnadzor discussed the issues of parallel imports in the field of cosmetology services at a round table. According to Natalya Gavrilova, Chairman of the Council of the SRO National Association of Aesthetic Medicine Clinics, a number of foreign cosmetics manufacturers have already left the Russian market today, and some of them have faced serious logistical and financial difficulties. In connection with this, the question arose of how to replace their products now, what is the quality of the products that are currently circulating on the cosmetology market, and how legal are their origin and import into Russia.

Roszdravnadzor considers it necessary to work with the population in order to warn them against the use of “gray” products, the use of which may lead to irreparable consequences. However, at the same time, market experts predict that such will inevitably appear – the import of legal cosmetics into the country is extremely difficult today. Officially, there will be no more imports from Europe, and this product no longer flies or travels to us, but only floats around. And this was fully felt by the westernmost point of the country – Kaliningrad and the Kaliningrad region. “Russia will have new logistics chains for purchases, and we have an additional factor in Kaliningrad – we get everything for a long time and expensive; and all this will affect both the price and the assortment, ”Dmitry Yagovdik, chairman of the board of the Association of Pharmacies of the Kaliningrad Region, a member of the Alliance of Pharmaceutical Associations, told MK.

Cosmetics fell into the tenth package of European sanctions. “Earlier, she was transported to our region by land, through Lithuania; now, as part of parallel imports, we are forced to import it by ferry. As a result, the logistical shoulder has been greatly lengthened: before, the car ran every day or every other day, and now the ferries run for a month. In other words, the logistics chain has lengthened from 3 days to 30. Which, of course, led to a rise in the cost of products,” the expert continues.

But if it’s hard, but still possible to live without cosmetics, then the deficiency of some drugs can lead to very serious problems. First of all, in the region, the so-called thermolabile medicines, which require compliance with a strict temperature regime – strictly from +2 to +8C, turned out to be under the threat of extinction. For example, these are immunoglobulins, some inhibitors, vaccines. For their transportation, special containers are required, equipped with ice packs and temperature sensors. Previously, they were delivered to us exclusively by air in order to shorten the delivery time as much as possible (the cold element must be changed after two days). “But we have a special customs regime in the region. These containers are expensive and need to be returned to the supplier. However, the customs regime suggests that they must first be “customs cleared” and then “customs cleared” in order to make a return through Russia. This separate customs procedure significantly lengthens the chain and leads to a significant increase in the price of thermolabile drugs,” says Dmitry Yagovdik.

And if there are not very many vaccines in civil circulation now (they are mainly purchased by state orders by hospitals and clinics), then with immunoglobulins (they are used for secondary immunodeficiencies, inflammation and autoimmune diseases, acute infections) the situation is critical. “These are vital drugs with a fixed margin, and if you load a container with immunoglobulins on a plane, they will remain in Kaliningrad, it is impossible to return them, and this is a 100% loss, such a supply will not cover the cost of transportation, no matter where they are taken – to a pharmacy or hospital. We are hostages of the situation, this is the specificity of our territory, because we have no land border. And this problem is not solved; we already have a deficiency of immunoglobulins, no one is lucky for us. In general, we have set a wholesale margin for medicines from the list of vital and essential drugs that is lower than in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Moreover, it must also include the cost of transportation. Therefore, in the same St. Petersburg, the wholesale company earns more than ours, and it is generally unprofitable to ship vital medicines in our direction.

Some suppliers, who are forced to supply deliberately unprofitable drugs, are still trying to solve this problem by supplying mandatory “add-on weights” with them – so to speak, in addition to the main cargo. Something that, under other circumstances, no one would ever buy. However, how long they will last is not clear. And while experts do not see ways to solve this problem.

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 28994 dated March 22, 2023

Newspaper headline:
Kaliningrad factor