Russian Pharma Spending In 1996

Russian drug imports totaled $1.1 billion in 1996, according to theMinistry of Health. Of the 1,550 billion rubles ($269.2 million) in 1996's federal budget allocation for drugs, only 727.7 billion rubles (46.6%) was actually spent on medicines.

It is reported that Russia's republics and provinces spent 4,990 billion rubles on drugs procurement in 1996, and that at April 15 this year, the federal budget drugs procurement debt had risen 26.7 billion rubles since the start of 1997 to 34.8 billion rubles. Federal budget spending on public-sector health care institutions in 1996 accounted for 57.7% of the level provided for in the budget. Drugs procurement was financed at only 50.6% of the target fixture, says the Ministry, making it impossible for medical institutions to provide the minimum required level of care.