The Consumer Protection Council of Central America and Dominican Republic (CONCADECO) created an observatory to monitor the prices of essential medicines in the countries of the region.
This is a proposal made by the executive director of the National Institute for the Protection of Consumer Rights (Pro Consumidor), Eddy Alcantara, at the meeting of that regional body in which the heads of the different government consumer protection agencies of the nations that comprise it participated.
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Alcántara, who is president pro tempore of CONCADECO on behalf of the State of the Dominican Republic, explained that the fundamental objective of the observatory “is to maintain permanent surveillance of the prices of the most widely consumed drugs in each of these countries, to make a comparison regarding their fluctuations”.
He stated that with this observatory, intervention mechanisms are created through the different governments of the member countries of that council, “in order to implement actions and prevent uncontrolled fluctuations from affecting the pockets of consumers.”
“In the development of the third section of CONCADECO, as president pro tempore, we proposed the need to carry out this initiative, which was unanimously approved, since it will greatly benefit consumers in the region,” he said.
He stressed that the observatory is a unique initiative that for the first time in universal history, “countries agree to make comparisons of these products to intervene jointly through the agencies that defend consumer rights and thus maintain stabilized prices for the benefit of the citizenry.
Eddy Alcántara also informed that the survey carried out and the price comparison will be posted on the Web page of Pro Consumidor and the same will be done in their respective countries by the other government agencies that make up CONCADECO.
He indicated that each country will have the cost of these pharmaceutical products in US dollars so that citizens can make a comparison in their respective currencies.
He went on to say that the creation of this tool seeks to make access to information on prices of essential medicines transparent “and their availability in each of the Central American countries and our nation.”
In addition, good practices, market transparency and consumer confidence will be promoted, as well as the possible solution of cases where the rights of consumers when acquiring or buying a medicine will be managed and channeled.
The head of Pro Consumidor also explained that this observatory seeks to be the official source among the consumer protection government agencies of El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Panama, and the Dominican Republic to monitor the behavior of these pharmaceutical products. .
“We continue to search for formulas and viable measures that help alleviate the cost of living of the population, especially with the most widely sold medicines and thus continue providing protection to consumers, especially the most vulnerable sectors of the countries of the region” he added.
At the end of the meeting, the official said that all the countries promised to exchange impressions, surveys and possible solutions that will be implemented through their governments to try to lower the price of products in each of the countries be affordable to all consumers.
“The members of CONCADECO promised to take the pertinent actions so that, through this observatory, they guarantee the health and economy of consumers in each of our countries,” he finally stated.
