Association of wholesale drug suppliers warned on Monday that deliveries of drugs to Croatia's state-run hospitals might be suspended unless the government finds a way to settle a 2.2 billion kuna (€300 million) debt for drugs already delivered.

According to a press release issued by the wholesale drug suppliers’ group at the Croatian Chamber of Economy (HGK), the debt owed to the four major wholesale suppliers totalled 2.2 billion kuna on December 31, 2018.

They added that in order to finance normal supply of drugs, wholesalers had to take out 1 billion kuna (€135 million) in bank loans, and the hospitals’ debt for drug supplies keeps climbing at a rate of 150 million kuna (€20 million) every month.

“Wholesale drug suppliers can no longer be held responsible for maintaining a functioning hospital system… We have been brought into a position in which we see no other way out. Unless the government shows the willingness to urgently find the funding needed, we will be forced to stop supplying hospitals, starting with the ones whose unpaid debts are the oldest,” said Ivan Klobucar of the wholesale drug suppliers group with the HGK.

Later on Monday, the Health Ministry replied by issuing a statement which said that “in spite of the complexity of this problem” the drug supply is not in doubt, and added that the government had paid 1.27 billion kuna (€171 million) for drugs in 2017.

In 2018, the government spent 487 million kuna (€66 million) on hospital drugs, with another 100 million (€13.5 million) paid by the national health care service HZZO, the press release said.

(€1 = 7.41 kuna)

Follow N1 via mobile apps for Android | iPhone/iPad | Windows| and social media on Twitter | Facebook.