WARSAW: Poland’s right-wing government on Wednesday said it would go after smugglers whose illegal medicine exports to countries like Germany have left Poland with a shortage of pharmaceutical products.
“We’re talking about a real pharmaceutical mafia operating here in Poland,” Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro told reporters, estimating the annual value of illegal pharmaceutical exports at 500 million euros ($615 million).
Ziobro announced a draft amendment that would hand a jail sentence of up to 10 years to anyone who sells or purchases medicine illegally.
Bought in Poland, where many products are considerably cheaper than in neighbouring Germany which uses the euro, the medicines is then sold abroad at higher prices.
There is a constant market shortage of around 200 pharmaceutical products in Poland, including life-savers like cancer medication, blood thinners and insulin, according to deputy justice minister Marcin Warchol.
