Introduction of VAT on medicine to lead to rise in medicine prices by 20%, says PharmUkraine

The introduction of VAT on medicine will lead to an increase in their price by up to 20%, the president of the PharmUkraine pharmaceutical distributors' association, Volodymyr Dudka, said at a press conference on Wednesday.

"It's not right to simply introduce VAT without presenting mechanisms for protecting the public, with regard to the increase of prices of medicine," he said.

He added that medicine is taxed with VAT in some countries, although the major part of the medicine's cost is subsidized by the state. Dudka said that 80% of a medicine's cost is paid by patients in Ukraine.