According to the State Statistics Committee, in 2023, 8,400,000 manat worth of medicines were produced in Azerbaijan. This indicator was 7.2 percent more than in 2022. According to information as of January 1, 2024, Azerbaijan’s stock of finished medicinal products is 270,000 manats. How successful are these indicators for Azerbaijan? What opportunities are available for our country to meet its drug needs, and what is being done? Which foreign countries are we dependent on for our drug needs? What are the problems and goals we face in the development of the pharmaceutical industry in the country?
Publika.az It is reported that pharmacist Shovgi Bunyadov, chairman of “Pharmacists’ Club” Public Union, told Medianews.az that local production in the field of medicine in Azerbaijan does not make up 08-09 percent of the demand.
According to the pharmacist, if a country cannot produce 25 percent of its needs, then it is dependent on foreign countries: “If the information about the production of 8 million 400 thousand manats in Azerbaijan in 2023 belongs to the State Statistics Committee, then this information should be correct. we should accept as If we mean not food supplements, but medicines, then there is movement. But I will tell you some numbers. Azerbaijan’s annual demand for medicines is approximately 1 billion 250 million manats. According to the information of the State Statistics Committee, local production does not make up to 08-09 percent of the demand. If the country cannot produce 25 percent of its needs, then it is dependent on foreign countries in that area.
Sh. Bunyadov emphasized that the pandemic period has once again revealed the dependence of Azerbaijan’s pharmaceutical industry on foreign sources: “Even elementary medicines were not found. The drugs in reserve could not fill the gap. That is, we did not have enough reserves. That’s why certain things are being done for our country to meet its medical needs. Great measures are taken by the state to create local production. An example of this is the great concessions given to companies that will be engaged in the production of medicines, which will acquire residency in the Pirallahi Industrial Park, Alat Free Trade Zone. The state is interested in the creation of local production and does what is necessary. Contracts have already been concluded with several foreign companies, and they have started the construction of a plant for the production of medicines.”
The chairman of the “Pharmacists’ Club” Public Union said that Azerbaijan mainly imports drugs from Russia, India, Belarus, and with a relatively small percentage from European countries, as well as from Turkey: “Azerbaijani pharmacy is currently 93-94 percent dependent on imports. In order to eliminate this addiction, as I emphasized earlier, the construction of factories that will produce medicine has been started. However, building factories for local production is not the end of the job. There was still a lot of work to be done on the production process. Thus, the chemical industry should be developed, raw material production and raw material processing should be created, and finally specialists should be trained. If they are not, the work is considered incomplete. Let’s hope that within the next 5 years the pharmaceutical industry of Azerbaijan will be formed and local factories will be able to meet at least 40-50 percent of domestic demand. This is a very strategic area. Drug safety of the country is of strategic importance as food safety and military safety.
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