By the end of the week, 900 million kuna will be paid to wholesale drug suppliers, whose dissatisfied representatives said on Wednesday they would continue to restrict drug supplies to hospitals over an outstanding debt amounting to 6.5 billion kuna, while Health Minister Vili Beros said this would not endanger patients.
We asked for the urgent payment of 3.5 billion kuna and a payment plan for the rest of the year, but we were offered just 900 million kuna by the end of the week, wholesale drug suppliers’ representatives said after a meeting at the Health Ministry.
Limited drug supplies will continue
Hospitals and the Croatian Health Insurance Fund owe them 6.5 billion kuna, the suppliers said.
The biggest drug wholesaler, Medika, this week suspended supply in all 64 hospitals in the country over a 2.1 billion kuna debt, with 1.4 billion kuna owed by hospitals, while the rest is the debt for prescribed medicines.
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The drug wholesalers’ representative in the Croatian Employers’ Association (HUP), Diana Percac, said every wholesaler would continue to operate under internal decisions and that restricted supplies would continue.
CEO Jasminko Herceg said Medika would not supply hospitals with drugs until Friday, when it would decide on a further course of action, depending on how much money it receives.
PHOENIX Farmacija CEO Jasmin Huljaj said the amount offered today was not enough and that further restrictions in drug supplies could be expected. Management will adopt concrete measures on Friday, he added.
HUP director general Damir Zoric said it would be unacceptable to further burden employers by increasing health insurance contributions.
“The system should be reset. We have too many hospitals and too many cases of contribution exemptions. Healthcare remains the only unreformed system in Croatia. The buck for its wastefulness can’t be passed onto employers,” he added.
The payment is a short-term solution
Minister Beros said that “at the moment, patients are not in danger over the suspended drug supply.”
He said the 900 million kuna payment was a short-term solution and that the amount was what the health budget could afford at the moment.
Beros said he hoped the amount would enable drug wholesalers to operate and noted that so far the pandemic had cost healthcare 2.5 billion kuna.
“Only one third of the working population pay contributions into the health budget, yet patients’ rights haven’t been reduced,” he said.
He said increasing health contributions was unlikely and that attempts would be made to increase revenues “with certain budgetary outlays” related to harmful substances such as tobacco, alcohol, and sugar.
Beros said the government was thinking about patients, and working on healthcare reform. Certain steps have been taken, such as overtime and prescription oversight, he said, adding that treatment outcomes will be detected and public procurement combined.
He said he was confident the direction of the reform could be visible in the next six to 12 months.
(€1 = HRK 7.5)
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