Health service tells pharmacies it is unable to pay their bills

(c) Alberto Bullrich 2011

ANDALUCÍA A chat with the local farmacéutico (chemist/pharmacist) might have elicited that they could see it coming: the health service of Andalucía (SAS) has announced that it doesn't have enough money to pay their bills for September and October. The total SAS debt amounts to some €360 million. The service has written to all the provincial pharmacists colleges to advise them of the fact and a local chemist tells us that all the colleges are trying to arrange for financing the debt, making it payable by the Administration in 2013. However, the credit crunch is getting in the way of this operation. In the meantime, we are advised that there is a possibility of delays in receiving some medicines from the suppliers, who are understandably reluctant to provide them without guarantee of payment. Behind the news is that the pharmacy organizations are working toward lines of credit and a meeting of each college is scheduled for tomorrow.