Greece through the Ages
From Ancient Greece .... to the IMF...
From Ancient Greece .... to the IMF...
(Source: Unknown - received by email, no copyright infringement intended)
For those that don't know - the last one epitomises the Greek saying ' Me ta duo podia s'ena papoutsi'... which means that things are really tight and tough, as tough as trying to walk with both feet in one shoe...
Read the rest of the article:
ReplyDelete"Novo Nordisk claims it is owed $36m (£24.9m) dollars by the Greek state."
Why should this company continue to operate in a country where it's not being paid?
Dear Anonymous, This question has has nothing to do with this post. Presumably you read the post in the Facebook GGW page but didn't want to comment there because you wanted to remain anonymous.
ReplyDeleteWe've read the whole article http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/10189367.stm and the title says it all 'Insulin giant pulls medicine from Greece over price cut'
Novo didn't say they were leaving because they were owed money, but because the state had dropped the price and the company would be operating at a loss, losses which they haven't had time to make yet as the price cuts were announced a few days ago...
Cutting someone's profit margin from 100 to 75% is obviously an incentive to move quickly...
The BBC article we posted says
'A spokesman for the Danish pharmaceutical company said it was withdrawing the product from the Greek market because the price cut would force its business in Greece to run at a loss.
The company was also concerned that the compulsory 25% reduction would have a knock-on effect because other countries use Greece as a key reference point for setting drug prices.'
The only thing Novo appears to be concerned about is its bottom line profit, unfortunately, and we are entitled to wonder where Novo's corporate social responsibility is?
We are not disputing the debt of the Greek State to Novo, and it is a debt which has been accumulating for a while we are sure. it didn't happen overnight.
What we object to is the way that this is being done, totally unethically and without due consideration for the people who have come to rely on your medication for survival.
We are talking medication not industrial cleaning liquids.
We are talking about people with a life-threatening illness.
If you want to withdraw from a market, and it is your right as a company to do so, you don't do it immediately after the government announces a price cut and potential reduction in your profit margin - that makes you look as if you don't give a damn about the people you are dealing with.
We all know that Novo, like all companies, are not in business to save their souls... if they want to leave, fine but don't leave patients in the lurch.
As a company dealing with life-saving products they have a MORAL obligation to give due warning and phase their product out gradually giving patients a chance to find alternatives.
By doing it in this way they have lost any moral high ground they might have gained because of the large amount of money owed them by the Greek State.
Perhaps if they were to cut back on all the incentives, conference travel perks and kickbacks to doctors their costs would be much lower...
Profit over everything else! That says it all!!!
ReplyDelete