MOSCOW, August 4 (RAPSI) – Russian Minister of Healthcare Veronika Skvortsova has instructed the concerned officials to draft a bill requiring legal liability for overpriced essential and vital medications, RIA Novosti reported on Tuesday, quoting the ministry’s spokesperson Oleg Salagai.

This bill would authorize the Federal Service for Supervision of Public Health and Social Development (Roszdravnadzor) to make administrative decisions, to suspend licenses for violating license requirements including overpricing medications, Salagai noted.

The Healthcare Ministry and Roszdravnadzor are also establishing a central system for state control in healthcare to redistribute authority that would include licensing control over pharmacy companies.

In late July, Roszdravnadzor urged regional leaders to more actively monitor prices for essential and vital medications. The agency surveyed hospitals and preventive treatment facilities in Moscow during the first six months of 2015, noting that prices for these medications increased by 7.3 percent.