Óptica Regueira

Óptica Regueira

Óptica Regueira

Óptica Regueira

Is a pharmacy at the supermarket a possibility in Spain?

SPAIN It may not be unusual to the inhabitants of other countries such as the UK, but have you noticed that there are no farmacias (pharmacies, chemists') or even medicines in Spanish supermarkets, even the big chains? Or that they are not at all close together, in competition with each other? The only people who can open a farmacia (sometimes known as boticas) in Spain, are properly licensed pharmacists - and they can't have one wherever they like. Pharmacies - the only establishments that can sell medication of any kind - are located according to planning criteria that include geography and demographics. The idea is that everyone has a pharmacy close to hand. But the Ministry of Economy is planning to open up the market, and there are arguments for both sides of the debate. (A more detailed article will soon be available at SpainInformer.com)

Óptica Regueira

Three pharmacists and 23 doctors in fraud scandal

Doing their job
(Photo: Guardia Civil)

Doctors prescribed expensive medicine in pensioners' names without their knowledge · Chemists sold on black market

SAN PEDRO DE ALCÁNTARA  It worked like this: the doctors prescribed medication -often costing over €5,000- to pensioners without their knowledge; later, a pharmacist's assistant, allegedly the head of the scam, would pick the prescriptions up and sell them on the black market, principally to sports people as anabolic steroids. At the same time, the medication was charged to the SAS (Servicio Andaluz de Salud, Andalucía's health service) and to a civil servants' health care system, Muface.>>>

Óptica Regueira

Óptica Regueira

Óptica Regueira

Óptica Regueira

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.