Author: Klevis Paloka
" I remember the prescription that the doctor gave me at the time when we were affected by Covid as a family, it suggested Favira ," Artani tells "Sinjalizo". According to the 43-year-old, at a time not too distant but around January 2021, he followed a not-so-secret scheme that had taken over the country. Through the order of his family doctor, he bought antivirals that were not available in private pharmacies that kept the drugs in pharmaceutical warehouses. " For us, it didn't matter if they were approved or not, we needed medicines and we would buy them at any price," recalls the young man, for whom, like dozens of citizens affected by the Sars Covid-2 virus, the term smuggling had no meaning, or their multiple value that weighed down everyone's pockets. However, "Sinjalizo" data shows how numerous medicines for treating Covid, or the side effects of the virus, were "imported" secretly from Greece and Turkey, and the black market flourished, as it still continues.
An investigation by the prosecutor's office in Tirana, spanning nine months in time, attempted to crack down on the ways in which drugs were brought into Albania and therefore infiltrated undercover agents.
" Crime agents named with codes due to secrecy landed in several pharmacies through methods of presenting themselves as an ordinary customer who had health problems and there the antiviral drugs were purchased ," says one of the capital's Police officials. The official mentions that the arrest warrants that were signed were only related to the conditions of flagrancy and then they sent the suspects to the cell for only a few hours. Five of them were pharmaceutical warehouse administrators and specifically citizens Blerim Bitri, 40 years old pharmacy administrator, Florian Marku also in the same position, Florian Lila, Bashkim Osmani and Sokol Topçiu. The other two are suspected of other roles during the smuggling such as Margarita Xhaxhiu suspected of being the sender of the drugs, Jani Papuli pharmacist. However, a few hours after the police made a fuss announcing that they had made arrests on charges of manufacturing and trading counterfeit and health-hazardous medicines and medical devices, as well as trading and transporting contraband goods, the criminal judge released all of them, sending them under light house arrest measures. “The judge assigned some tasks,” one of the lawyers in the case told “Sinjalizo,” “such as obtaining a response from the National Medicines Agency.”
But from the monitoring of "Sinjalizo", although this institution has the task of guaranteeing the population with safe, high-quality and efficient drugs, to control the production, import-export and distribution of drugs, to control their quality and to monitor the efficacy of drugs used during the pandemic period, it turns out that there was no official report on the phenomenon of black market drugs, with which Albanians were cured. At the same time, AKBPM did not inform and sensitize the population and health institutions and health professionals, as well as had an invisible role to ensure the sale of medicines at unified prices and to fight smuggling" writes one of the citizens in complete anonymity on the "Sinjalizo" platform. .
Whether or not the inspection was carried out in the pharmaceutical field during the pandemic and whether or not pharmacovigilance worked, this will be clear with documentary papers, following the court's request for the list of medicines that were bought by the investigative groups in a stimulated form.
What was bought and what is suspected to be smuggled...
The medications sold to the agents infiltrated in the pharmacies under investigation and that were seized are found in the investigative file to be “ Inhixa, Clexane, Favira, Alphagan, Cyrotex, Aricept, Medrol, Coaprovel ”. Most of them, according to the description of the Tirana Prosecutor's Office, are said to be medications that serve to treat COVID-19 and were sold on the market at a price many times higher than they were purchased.
This fact was also confirmed by sources from Economic Crime and that there is no figure for the economic damage to the state and citizens.
" They were sold 10 times more expensive than their price, if one of the medicines in other countries costs 25 dollars, here it was sold for 250 dollars. But there were also those that were sold 3 times their real price. We cannot have a figure for the economic damage, since for 10 months these pharmacies have been selling medicines continuously, but I can say that the economic damage is staggering, both to the state and to citizens ," a source from Economic Crime emphasizes for "SINJALIZO".
In the file of the Prosecutor's Office of Tirana, it is said that these pharmacies were mainly located in Tirana, but also in the city of Kamza.
The pharmacies that were discovered to be involved in this scheme are: "Flori Farma" located on "Zogu i Parë" Boulevard, "StoreFarma" located on "Rruga Kastrioti", "Farmanet" on "Bajram Curri" Boulevard, "Elda Pharmacy" ” to “Rruga e Durrës, and “Farmaci Bliri” in Kamez.
Purchases that were made in a stimulated manner and were carried out by the officers more than 5 times for various anti-Covid medicines that were not registered or that could be available in pharmaceutical warehouses.
Although the court ordered the verification and despite the insistence of the prosecution that the medications are not on the list of approved medications and are therefore considered contraband, the ACQJ conducted a simple monitoring. From there it is clear that none of the seized medications “ Inhixa, Clexane, Favira, Alphagan, Cyrotex, Aricept, Medrol, Coaprovel ” are on the list of medications approved to be marketed without a medical prescription by the Ministry of Health.
While some of them are not even registered drugs for use in Albania, such as Alphagan, Cyrotex and Favira.
ACQJ also contacted the lawyer of one of the arrested, Ardian Visha, but he refused to give a comment on this matter.
So, the Albanian Center for Quality Journalism managed to learn that in addition to these pharmacies, there are also about 50 other pharmacies under investigation which are suspected of selling these medications in a contraband manner in the Tirana area.
" But for me it doesn't matter if it's contraband or not, nor what effect the medication had, nor even how expensive I bought it ," adds Artani to "Sinjalizo," recalling that the relevant agency should have exercised not only controls but also awareness. " I'm currently being treated for tension, I don't know if Covid left me with this problem, or if the doses of medication I was taking as if they were vitamins left me with it ," concludes the former patient who was treated over the phone by the doctor he chose and who occasionally prescribed medication that he himself ran to buy.
Stocks and plans
About 3 years ago, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection started an action where it started a war against all pharmacies for drugs that were sold in the black market but also without a doctor's prescription.
By order of Minister Ogerta Manastirliu, 4 task forces were established between September 2018 and June 2019. These task forces, which operated for only a few months, managed to impose several fines with a total value of 1.5 million lek for dispensing medicines without a doctor's prescription and for trading medicines without a stamp.
Ironically, this task force is no longer in force at this very time when the drug market has also taken on huge proportions due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
A report of the High State Control highlights the fact that for 2020, at the height of the pandemic and the trade of contraband drugs, the National Agency has not conducted any analysis.
" For a period of about 11 months, the institution has not conducted analyses of drugs imported/produced in the country, pharmaceutical raw materials, drugs according to market surveys, etc., which does not guarantee the safety and required quality of drugs offered on the market. The low number of analyses during 2019 and their complete absence during 2020. The lack of analyses in the long term has significant impacts on maintaining the health of the population and they cannot justify the complete cessation of analyses," the SAI report states.
ACQJ also contacted the National Agency of Medicines and Medical Devices to ask about the checks carried out during this 9 month period in all pharmacies of the country, but especially in Tirana, but until the moment of publication of this article there was no answer.
Doctors: Medicines should be given without a prescription
For doctor Ilir Alimehmehti, this should not have happened since none of these medications can be given without a doctor's prescription.
" None of these medications can be given without a doctor's prescription. Each medication has its own specifics, for which it is enough to read the accompanying leaflet. Hospital medications should absolutely not be used on an outpatient basis. All indications, contraindications and possible side effects are evaluated by the treating physician ," says doctor Ilir Alimehmeti.
In fact, the numerous testimonies of citizens affected by Covid-19 show exactly this. Medicines sold over the phone and without leaving a trace like a prescription would.
The question that remains unanswered is why these pharmacies were allowed to sell smuggled medicines for a long time and why none of the institutions charged with the law not only did not control, but at least did not sensitize the citizens about the medicines that are being traded. The economic damage beyond the effects that these medicines may have left is another problem that was once again billed to the pockets of Albanians. It seems that the only ones who functioned were the media like ACQJ that has denounced the issue of trafficking in medicines sold on the black market, even medicines that are not allowed at all, such as the case of the medicine "Favira", seized in these pharmacies, but which has not been approved by the Medicines Agency.
