The Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted the List of Essential Medicines in Bosnia and Herzegovina earlier this year, and its application will begin after it is published in the official gazettes of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
As Nataša Grubiša, director of the Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices of BiH, said, that list of essential medicines contains the minimum number of medicines that are prescribed and issued at the expense of mandatory health insurance, as well as the minimum number of medicines in hospital health care.
It represents the smallest common content, i.e. the minimum number of medicines available to the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the health care system.
– It consists of a list of medicines used/dispensed in health institutions, a list of medicines used in health institutions dealing with the treatment of oncology/hematological patients, and a list of vaccines used in health institutions in charge of population immunization – she told Fena.
It specifies that the health insurance funds in Bosnia and Herzegovina are obliged to provide insured persons with medicines that are on the List of Essential Medicines.
– However, the mentioned funds can also provide their health insurers with a wider list of medicines, if they have the financial (and other necessary) means and these are the so-called fund lists of medicines or positive lists of medicines, that is, lists of medicines that are provided/financed by the appropriate health insurance fund to the health insured, within the health insurance package – she emphasized.
The Law on Medicines and Medical Devices, in the chapter “Availability of Medicines”, defines the List of Essential Medicines, as well as the method of determining and adopting that list.
The list of essential medicines is adopted in order to enable the basic health care of the population.
The law requires drug manufacturers and legal entities that carry out wholesale trade in drugs to always have at their disposal determined amounts of essential drugs (drugs from the List of Essential Drugs) in order to ensure the best possible availability of drugs.
On March 23 of this year, Bosnia and Herzegovina received the List of Essential Medicines, the first in almost 18 years since the Law came into force.
It was created as a result of the work of the Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the consent of entity ministries responsible for health affairs and the Department of Health of the Brčko District, and as such represents a major shift in the work of the Agency, all with the aim of equal availability of medicines to all citizens of BiH.
