Originally published at Notes From The Bunker. You can comment here or there.

Greece is facing a serious shortage of medicines amid claims that pharmaceutical multinationals have halted shipments to the country because of the economic crisis and concerns that the drugs will be exported by middlemen because prices are higher in other European countries.

Hundreds of drugs are in short supply and the situation is getting worse, according to the Greek drug regulator. The government has drawn up a list of more than 50 pharmaceutical companies it accuses of halting or planning to halt supplies because of low prices in the country.

More than 200 medicinal products are affected, including treatments for arthritis, hepatitis C and hypertension, cholesterol-lowering agents, antipsychotics, antibiotics, anaesthetics and immunomodulators used to treat bowel disease.

Why would a drug company ship millions of dollars of product to a customer who apparently has no ability to pay?  Simple math…no one stays in business long when they give away the product instead of selling it.

The lesson here is that when an economy collapses (or comes close to it) those convenient modern miracles may not keep coming. Of course, anyone with hard currency (cough*gold*cough) shouldnt have any trouble getting their drugs since there’s always someone somewhere who can deliver for the right price.