How do pharmacists explain to patients that they don't have the medicines they need?

Polish pharmacist Anna Milczarek-Alwaked tells Smart Health about the challenges she faces when key medicines are in short supply.

Transcript

00:00 European Union health systems can't always deliver patients the medicines they need

00:05 due to temporary shortages or the lack of availability of particular treatments in a given country.

00:11 So how do pharmacists explain this issue to patients?

00:14 One pharmacist in Warsaw, Poland's capital, shares her experience with Smart Health.

00:25 Sometimes patients become aggressive. They are unhappy that I don't have the medicine they need

00:30 and they clearly show their unhappiness.

00:34 When all my explanations have already been undermined, I always do the same thing.

00:38 I explain that there is just one manufacturer of the main substances.

00:42 Everything depends on the manufacturer.

00:45 I tell them that medicines have different prices in the European Union and in the world

00:49 and that for the manufacturer it is always more profitable to sell drugs when the prices are higher.

00:56 Manufacturers export more to whoever has more purchasing power.

00:59 This is what I explain to the patients.

01:02 Of course they are sometimes full of resentment.

01:04 They come and say that they are chronically ill.

01:06 I tell them I don't have what they need and they say they do not have the strength to go to lots of different pharmacies.

01:12 They really need this medicine here and now.

01:17 Then I repeat to them that I can't offer this drug that they have been prescribed

01:21 because at this given moment it is not available here.

01:24 But they insist. They tell me how badly they need this treatment.

01:28 Then sometimes I try to import medicines from abroad, from the European Union,

01:32 but they have a much higher price.

01:34 But if the patient really needs this medicine, they will pay any price to have the treatment provided.

01:40 I have a very wide offer and I want every client to leave my pharmacy with medicine.

01:45 I am not afraid to listen to their criticism, their comments.

01:48 The main problem is the price.

01:50 Most of the unhappy comments we heard of at the counter are about the price of the medicines.

01:55 [Music]