通貨暴落で薬局から消えた薬　トルコ

【アンカラＡＦＰ＝時事】トルコでは、トルコ・リラの暴落とともに瞬く間に薬局から消えていった輸入薬を求め、大勢の人が町を探し回っている。（写真はトルコの首都アンカラの薬局）
　ファティヒ・ユクセルさん（３５）もその一人だ。炎症性疾患「ベーチェット病」があり、ここ９年間、症状を緩和するための薬を服用している。「必要な薬が手に入らないこともあり、持病が悪化している」
　糖尿病やがん、心臓病、インフルエンザなどさまざまな疾病用の輸入薬が全国の薬局２万７０００店の店頭からほぼ消えてしまった。
　通貨安の混乱にさらに拍車を掛けたのは、レジェプ・タイップ・エルドアン大統領による、市場理論の常識に反する金融政策だ。同氏の要求により中央銀行は今秋、インフレ対策として利下げを断行。トルコ・リラは１１月だけで３分の１減価した。
　どこで薬を入手できるのか必死になって聞き出そうとする人から写真付きのメッセージが、薬剤師にアプリで送られてくる。
　トルコ薬剤師会（ＴＰＡ）はＡＦＰに対し、１１月の時点で影響を受けた輸入薬は６４５点だったが、事態が悪化するにつれて１０００点余りの入手が難しくなったと述べた。
　アンカラの薬剤師会の代表タネル・エルカンリ氏は「状況はトルコ・リラのせいで悪化している」と指摘。「火事なのにガソリンをまいているようなものだ」と語った。
　トルコ保健省は毎年２月、政府が合意した為替レートに基づき、医薬品の基準価格を設定している。この制度も、医薬品の入手を困難にしている。
　今年の基準価格は１ユーロ（約１３０円）＝４．５７トルコ・リラだった。しかし、１２月には２０トルコ・リラ近くにまで落ち込んだ。
　さらに大きな問題は、新型コロナウイルスのパンデミック（世界的な大流行）による世界のサプライチェーン（供給網）の混乱だ。ほとんどの原料価格が高騰し、国産医薬品も値上がりした。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/12/23-10:55）

Fatih Yuksel is one of thousands of Turks rushing from one pharmacy to another in search of imported drugs that are disappearing as quickly as the lira is losing value.
Sometimes I have periods where I don't have the drugs I need and my illness gets worse. I suffer pains, said the 35-year-old, who has been taking pills to relieve a rare autoimmune disorder known as Behcet's syndrome, for the past nine years.
It can be hard but I have to work, said the shop attendant.
Turks have been rattled by a currency collapse that accelerated when President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month launched a self-declared economic war of independence that defies conventional market theory.
The veteran Turkish leader is trying to fight spiralling inflation by bringing down borrowing costs -- the exact opposite of what countries usually do in similar situations.
The results have been frightening for people such as Yuksel.
The Turkish currency has lost more than 40 percent of its value since the start of November alone. A lira could buy 13 US cents in January. It was worth less than half that this month.
The crisis has wiped out the value of people's savings and made basic goods prohibitively expensive, plunging swathes of the population below the official poverty line.
It has also made a whole gamut of imported drugs for a range of illnesses -- from diabetes to cancer, heart disease to flu -- nearly impossible to find across Turkey's 27,000 pharmacies.
- 'Pitiless'-
Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has deflected the blame, accusing drugs manufacturers of trying to sell expensive drugs to Turkey.
News that 'medicines cannot be found in Turkey' is not based on reality, said Koca.
Vedat Bulut, the Turkish Medical Association's secretary general, said it was pitiless to accuse companies of trying to sell expensive drugs when the lira had lost so much value.
Medical professionals said a long-term solution involved developing Turkey's health industry to wean it off its dependence on imports.
But today, pharmacists describe receiving heart-rending notes from patients on messaging apps with photographs, pleading to know where they can find their medication.
The Turkish Pharmacists' Association said in November that 645 drugs were affected but as the situation grew worse, pharmacist Berna Yucel Mintas told AFP around 1,000 medicines were difficult to find.
The situation deteriorated because of the lira, said Taner Ercanli, head of Ankara Chamber of Pharmacists.
Imagine it like a fire, and gasoline was poured over it.
- Set exchange rate -
Part of the problem stems from the way Turkey procures medications.
The health ministry sets the standard price for drugs every February based on an exchange rate agreed by the government.
It set an exchange rate of 4.57 lira to the euro for this year. But it now takes nearly 20 liras to buy a euro on the market.
That meant drug manufacturers had unfortunately decided against selling medicines to Turkey, Ercanli said, because they made more money in other markets.
Pharmacists want the government to reassess drug prices against the euro at least three times a year.
But there are wider problems.
Global supply chain bottlenecks caused by the coronavirus pandemic have resulted in jumps in the price of most raw materials, which make domestically produced medicine more expensive.
Turkish drug suppliers are also angry with the government over delayed payments, which are doubly painful as these are settled in liras according to the exchange rate agreed at the time.
Employers' associations warn some companies will be forced to close.
- 'Wretched' situation -
Children's syrups have been especially hard to find, as grandfather Emin Durmus discovered while trying to treat his five-year-old grandson's cough.
They don't have that medicine so I go back and get a new prescription. Then I come to this pharmacy and that drug is also not available, said Durmus, 62.
Erkan Ozturk, who manages a private medical centre in Ankara, described similar issues finding drugs to address fever, nausea and stomach aches.
There are major sourcing issues for drugs used to lower children's temperatures, the centre's chief doctor said.
We're starting to not be able to find medicines needed to treat diabetes, hypertension, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pharmacist Gokberk Bulmus said.
This is going towards becoming a drugs shortage. Whatever is left in our hands, this is all of our stock because we can't replace it.