A comprehensive reform of the health system, which includes the improvement of financing, including life-saving therapies at the level of the Federal Solidarity Fund, the education of personnel and the application of new technologies, is the basis for the stability of the health system. Through the model of public-private partnership and equal access to the market of essential medicines, Bosnia and Herzegovina can ensure a sustainable and equal health system, which is what the citizens need. The right of the patient to access medicines and the right of the manufacturer of medicines to access the market must not be questioned in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a country aspiring to join the European Union.
These are the conclusions of the Conference "Health as an Investment 2024", held today in Sarajevo, organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in Bosnia and Herzegovina (AmCham) and the Association of Innovative Pharmaceutical Manufacturers in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UIPL). The conference gathered eminent domestic and foreign experts from the fields of medicine, pharmacy, economy, insurance, IT sector as well as decision makers from different levels in BiH.
In the past year, AmCham BiH joined the efforts of the European Union, which in the Report on BiH for 2023 pointed out protectionism and discrimination in connection with the positive lists of medicines in the cantons of the Federation of BiH.
"Patients suffered because in some cantons they could get prescription drugs, while in others they had to buy them," said Emina Saračević, lawyer and representative of the AmCham BiH health committee. "Positive developments are visible in Herzegovina-Neretva Canton and Canton 10, and we hope that by the end of the year all patients in the Federation will have equal access to essential medicines from the positive list, without discrimination."
"Health really has to be an investment," pointed out the president of the Association of Innovative Drug Manufacturers, Ana Petrović. "Our goal is to make available to the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina the highest quality and best innovative medicines available to the citizens of the EU, USA or Switzerland. Our motivation is to improve the legislation and the entire environment not only for patients, but also for doctors and that all of us, as citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, have adequate health care."
Sarajevo Canton Health Minister Enis Hasanović pointed out that investing in prevention is the most important investment. "I would like to use the opportunity to emphasize that a free screening program for five types of cancer is being conducted in the Canton of Sarajevo and invite citizens to respond. A program of this scope has not yet been implemented in all EU countries. We must invest in health now to avoid higher costs in the future," explained Hasanović.
The delegate of the House of Peoples of the FBiH Parliament, Belma Kapo, pointed out that the real investment in health care is to enable every patient to have medicine when he needs it. "In the Canton of Sarajevo, progress has been made by providing medicines for oncology patients. About 130 patients are included in the treatment program," Kapo explained, expressing hope that the health sector will become a priority at the level of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and that the budget for the next year will include funds for the solidarity fund.
We thank Medtronic, Novo Nordisk BH, Roche Bosnia and Herzegovina, SANDOZ, medIT, and MSD for their support and hard work at the conference.
