Legalization of drug delivery by certified postal operators amid quarantine will reduce the spread of the disease, according to the Manufacturers of Medications of Ukraine Association.
“This issue becomes especially relevant in the situation when it is necessary to limit unnecessary contacts as much as possible, because a pharmacy becomes one of the places of active contacts. This is especially important for elderly people who urgently need medicines and form the basis of the risk group,” head of the association Petro Bahriy said.
He noted that “the de facto delivery of medicines purchased online exists, but is illegal.”
“Such a service needs to be legalized so that people who need medicines can be quarantined,” he said.
According to the expert, the legitimization of such a delivery will guarantee the quality, origin of drugs and compliance with the mandatory logistic requirements, while involving all certified operators in the delivery will allow delivering drugs quickly and on time.
Director General of InterChem pharmaceutical company (Odesa) Anatoliy Reder, in turn, noted that attracting all the postal operators of Ukraine to the delivery of medicines will enable the widest possible delivery with a significant limitation of contacts and the spread of coronavirus.
According to him, this option will allow people living in remote and rural areas to “get their medicines at the right time and with the guaranteed quality.”
Reder believes that the possibility of delivery will not have a significant impact on the price of drugs.
CORONAVIRUS, DELIVERY, LEGALIZATION, MEDICINES, POSTAL OPERATORS
The majority of Ukrainian citizens do not support legalization of gambling in the country, according to a poll conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) on December 1 through December 12 as part of the KIIS Omnibus regular multi-targeted population survey.
To the question “Do you support the legalization of the gambling business?” 56% of respondents said they did not fully support it. Another 19% of respondents support the legalization of gambling, but on condition that special gambling zones are made for this or the places are localized. Only 18% of respondents fully support the legalization of gambling.
At the same time, the respondents were asked what games can be legalized in Ukraine. Almost half of the respondents (49.7%) believe that they can be lotteries, 22.1% – bookmakers’ odds, 18.7% – casinos, 9.5% – online casinos, 6.9% – gambling with cards. Some 37% said that none of the gambling can be legalized in Ukraine.
According to the results of the study, 52% of the inhabitants of Ukraine react negatively about the fact that President Volodymyr Zelensky approves the legalization of gambling. 35% of respondents have a positive attitude to this initiative of the president. 62% of respondents know that several bills on the legalization of gambling are under consideration in the Verkhovna Rada.
The survey was conducted in 110 populated settlements (PSU) in all regions of Ukraine, except for Crimea and the uncontrolled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. During the field stage, 2,043 questionnaires were collected. The statistical error of the sample (with a probability of 0.95 and with a design effect of 1.5) does not exceed 3.3% for indicators close to 50%, 2.8% for indicators close to 25%, 2.0% for indicators close to 12%, and 1.4% for indicators close to 5%.
The issue of legalization of cannabis in Ukraine is not on the agenda as the country has enough more important problems, which are of a higher priority, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said. “We are not talking about legalization of cannabis at present. But I know that very many people want to do this business in Ukraine. But we can discuss this only when we know that we are really talking about medical marijuana,” Zelensky said during a press marathon in Kyiv on Thursday.
He said he is convinced that it is necessary to find answers to all acute questions on this matter first.
“I don’t want us to be told tomorrow that we have allowed everyone to take drugs, why do we need that? We have very many problems. It seems to me that those who want this will put up with waiting,” Zelensky said.
The president said he has not seen a relevant registered bill from the Servant of the People faction.
“I think now is not the right time. Not now, it’s not a priority. We haven’t written out all the risks associated with it. We should not be compared, for example, to Canada, other countries,” Zelensky said.
He said Ukraine is now, on the contrary, fighting a drug problem.
“If we resolve this problem, we can go back to discussing this issue,” Zelensky said.
Around 40% of polled Ukrainians back the initiative of legalizing gambling in the country in general, almost half of them believe that lotteries should be permitted, according to a poll conducted by the Rating sociological group late September.
According to the results of the survey, 11% of respondents believe that gambling should be legalized in Ukraine without any restrictions, 27% support legalization, but subject to the creation of special zones for gambling. At the same time, almost 60% do not support legalization under any circumstances.
Almost half of the respondents believed that lotteries should be allowed in Ukraine, a quarter – bets in bookmakers and casinos. The worst attitude is towards the legalization of online casinos (12%), slot machines (12%), and playing cards for money (11%).
Some 25% of respondents rate themselves as people with gambling addictions, while the majority (73%) do not consider themselves having with gambling addictions. More people with gambling addictions are men, youth, and people with higher incomes.
The survey was conducted on September 27-30. Audience is Ukrainian population 18 years and older. The sample is representative by age, gender, region, and type of settlement. A total of 2,000 respondents were interviewed (face-to-face). The representativeness error of the study is no more than 2.2%.
The draft law on legalization of gambling, which is being discussed within the framework of the working group of the Verkhovna Rada, after its adoption could give a significant impetus to the development of five-star hotels and encourage investors to open new facilities in this segment, Managing Partner of ArtBuild Hotel Group Oleksiy Yevchenko believes.
“A significant impetus to the development of hotel business will be provided by the adoption of the law on gambling, which will regulate the placement of casinos in five-star hotels for a certain number of rooms depending on the region. Hotels for casinos could appear both in large cities and in smaller towns, causing the active development and growth of a certain region,” he said at the conference “Hotel Real Estate in Ukraine: Development Prospects.”
According to the expert, the bill has a chance to be adopted before the end of 2019 or at the beginning of 2020. According to the document, casinos will be placed in five-star hotels with over 200 rooms in Kyiv, and over 120 rooms in Kharkiv, Lviv, Dnipro and Odesa, and from 100 rooms in all other cities.
“This will only spur the development of the five-star segment. The question is whether we have the key targeted audience here and whether there are enough tourists to fill this particular segment. In Kyiv, the occupancy of five-star hotels is on average 38%. And if another five to ten objects are built, as there are already real investors interested in this, with the number of rooms exceeding 200, with large places for organizing casinos, what will happen to the economy of these hotels?” the expert said.
He said the draft law under consideration provides for a mandatory requirement for hotels: the availability of 500 square meters of free space for a casino.
“Out of about 70 five-star hotels in Ukraine, only eight to ten hotels have such a large free space. Therefore, it is very important how the bill is adopted,” the expert stated.
DEVELOPMENT, FIVE-STAR HOTELS, GAMBLING BUSINESS, LEGALIZATION
