OREANDA-NEWS  The increase in prices for vital and essential medicines (VED) in pharmacies since the beginning of 2025 has amounted to 4.2%, which is below the inflation rate, Alexey Kuznetsov, assistant to the head of the Ministry of Health, told reporters.

"On average, in the pharmacy segment, prices for VED drugs have increased by 4.2% since the beginning of the year, which is below the inflation rate," he said.

According to him, preferential medicines are provided in a pharmacy, regardless of the form of ownership - it can be either a state pharmacy or a private one, with which an agreement has been concluded on the provision of preferential medicines.

"The ministry's principled position is that every medical organization should have a dispensary for discounted medicines," Kuznetsov said.

The assistant minister said that pharmaceutical licenses have been obtained for more than 37,000 medical and obstetric centers throughout the country, where the sale of medicines is also organized.

On a direct line to the president, they complained about interruptions in the supply of vital medicines for beneficiaries in the regions. To this, Vladimir Putin replied that the problem was related to insufficient organization of work on the ground, disruptions in logistics, and insufficient timely conclusion of contracts. He also demanded that discounted medicines be sold at fixed prices in private pharmacies.