Among the thousands of people who cross the border daily are those looking for better prices on medications and consultations.
The Federation of Interior Doctors (FEMI) once again pointed out the problem represented by the exchange difference with Argentina also for the medical sector Uruguay while more and more people cross the border for health reasons. But they also warn about the risks that the so-called medical tourism you can bring.
Already the Pharmacy Center of Uruguay had warned about what exchange difference with Argentina was generating in the health sector in the country, when he warned about the entry of medicines illegally and for millions of dollars from the neighboring country. Now, the FEMI points to a phenomenon to which the price gap in medications and consultations for treatments, as well as the lack of local specialists, and which is much more noticeable in the coastal departments.
This means that, among the thousands of people who cross daily to Argentina, There are also those who look for better prices in pharmacies, as well as shorter waits for medical consultations—which in Uruguay They can take between four and six months, according to the specialist. The problem lies mainly in this last group, since when these people return to receive care in the country, they do not have complete medical historynor information about medications or treatments received, as explained by FEMI.
“Now, when people receive these treatments in another country and return to our country, they are in a quite complicated situation because if a complication arises they will consult with their provider, but that provider will not even have the medical history of what happened. happened, nor what medication they gave him, nor what treatment he received, nor what surgery he received,” he told Telemundo. Gabriela González, member of the FEMI, and added: “We received a complicated patient and no options for real and secure information”.
Despite this, consultations in Uruguay They are still “full,” says González. Furthermore, they accept that there is a lack of quick accessibility in care, and they insist on FEMI’s demand: that there be more specialists in the interior.
Smuggling at the border also involves medicines
Drug smuggling is also a growing problem. Enrique Padialpresident of Pharmacy Center of Uruguay, He assured that the situation has been going on for some time. “At the beginning of the year there was a differential issue that was important, but that increased due to the increase in the famous Dolar blue that did not stop rising and, obviously, all of this disrupted everything that is the operation of the Uruguayan pharmacy,” he explained to Subrayado.
He added that the same person who in Uruguay buy one or two medications, when traveling to Argentina brings treatment for the whole year. The phenomenon occurs mainly in users with chronic treatments.
According to Padial, there is also “the ghost traveler”, a person who travels to Argentina with a list of names of remedies you already have placed in Uruguay.
The Pharmacy Center pointed out that, in the month of January alone, Uruguayans spent 5 million dollars in Argentine pharmacies. Taking into account that since May, the blue dollar has been increasing its price, the current values are estimated to be much higher.
Source: Ambito
