UN SANCTIONS HIT YUGOSLAV DRUG SUPPLIES

United Nations sanctions imposed against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Monte-negro), are now hitting supplies of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment to the country and its neighboring republics, reports the Tanjug news agency in Belgrade, the Serbian capital.

Pharmacies in Belgrade are short of about 550 different kinds of drugs as a result of the sanctions, it says. Deputy director of the Belgrade city pharmacy, Zorica Kukoc, says medicines for the treatment of patients with mental illnesses are in particularly short supply, although there were insufficient supplies even before international sanctions were implemented.

Belgrade pharmacies are also short of drugs required by cardiac patients, diabetics and asthmatics, and the Belgrade Inst-itute of Urology and Nephrology reports an insufficiency of drugs used to prevent the rejection of kidney transplants.