Hungarians stormed the pharmacies for medicine stocks

After the 4 billion HUF (EUR 11.13 million) increase in the sector in June the trend continued in July with 2 billion HUF (EUR 5.55 million). Therefore, the altogether trade value of the prescription-only medicines (POM) rose to 45.8 billion HUF (EUR 127.4 million).

According to napi.hu, in July, the medicine trade value was exceptionally high in Hungary. Zsolt Virág, leader of the directorate board of the Hiflylabs, added that it exceeded the 2019 average, too. The altogether trade value of the prescription-only medicines (POM) rose to 45.8 billion HUF (EUR 127.4 million) in July which is a four pc increase compared to the previous month and 3.6 pc higher than the 2019 average.

If we take only the first seven months of 2020, the rise is 6.3 pc.

Experts say that there are multiple reasons behind the trend. Since people could move freely in July, they provided a perfect hotbed for the spread of different diseases. Furthermore, those who postponed visiting their doctors due to the coronavirus epidemic did it in from July on. Interestingly, medicine trade rises even though it is still much more difficult to see family doctors than before the virus. 

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If we analyse regional data, the results show that a lot of people buy their medicines in the suburbs instead of Budapest, but this effect weakens with every passing month. Thus, it is not surprising that the rise continued in the sector everywhere in the country instead of only Pest county. The increase in the medicine trade was

especially significant around Lake Balaton since many spent their holiday at the “Hungarian Sea”.

What did Hungarians buy?

They bought mostly anti-infectious products, for example, antibiotics and antivirus medicines. Interestingly, people bought lower amounts of antibiotics in spring because of the distance keeping measures but, after such restrictions were lifted, the number of bacterial infections started to increase quickly. It is thrilling how COVID affected the spread of other diseases.

Therefore, experts say that, in the coming weeks, the demand for antibiotics and antivirus products will continue to increase since schools enhance the chance for the spread of infectious diseases.

Source: napi.hu