The Health Ministry has decided to impose heavy fines on those who hike the prices of pharmaceuticals once it establishes the maximum retail prices (MPR) for the medicines imported and sold in the Maldives.
The Ministry made the decision after announcing that it would be announcing the maximum retail prices for pharmaceuticals next January.
It had also said that starting next year, retailers can only place a retail markup of 100 percent on all essential medicines sold in the country.
The Ministry had gazetted a regulation on the matter which said that any establishment that sells medicines at higher costs than the maximum market price would initially be given a fine of MVR 10,000.
It said that if the establishment repeats the offense, it would be given a fine between MVR 10,000 and MVR 50,000.
The regulation also stipulated that those who continue to sell medicine beyond the maximum retail prices would be slapped with a fine between MVR 50,000 and MVR 100,000.
Once the regulation is enacted, pharmacy customers must be able to see the MPRs on the premises. If the MPRs are not visible to the customers, the pharmacies would again be fined.
