Buying prescription drugs on the street is the new normal in Venezuela
Shortage in pharmacies pushes informal sale of medicines in the streets of Venezuela
By Anggy Polanco and Isaac Urrutia
SAN CRISTÓBAL / MARACAIBO, Venezuela (Reuters) - In a bus terminal in the Andean city of San Cristóbal or in an open-air market in the hot Maracaibo, street vendors in Venezuela offer products unrelated to their street stalls: medicines and vitamins.
With a shortage that the pharmaceutical industry places at 85 percent, the clandestine resale of prescription drugs without a prescription is booming. Some of them travel kilometers from hospitals in the country or neighboring Colombia, to informal posts without health permits.
"I buy vitamins here for memory because I suffered a stroke (stroke) and I forget things," said Marisol Salas, 56, in front of a post at the San Cristobal terminal, where she found what was missing in the pharmacies .
One of those who sell medicines there is Antuam López, 30, in his stand of natural products that he installs next to another one of vegetables.
"There are people who work in public entities, hospitals, medicaments and sell us medicines," said Lopez, while answering questions about contraceptives or medicines to control blood pressure. "Lately they are looking for many anticonvulsants," he added.
The few anticonvulsants are used to fight attacks of epilepsy.
The socialist government of Nicolás Maduro blames resellers for the shortage of medicines, although economists and private entrepreneurs say that the lack of raw materials and state controls that force them to sell at subsidized prices impact production and imports.
Medicines for chronic diseases in social networks, or even in newsstands are also offered in different parts of the country.
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https://lta.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idLTAKBN1E21JI-OUSLD
What is Chavismo good for, if not blaming everyone and everything for its perpetual failures?