Pharmaceutical wholesalers have welcomed the announcement by the health minister that a third tranche of HRK 1.07 billion (€142.6m) will be paid out to service hospitals' debts towards suppliers, saying that everything is under control and there will be no shortage of medicines.

At its meeting on Friday, the government will approve additional funding to service hospitals’ debts, Health Minister Vili Beroš announced in Parliament on Wednesday.

“The funds will be used to shorten the deadline for payments to wholesalers under 120 days,” Beroš said while presenting proposals to amend the Healthcare Act and the Mandatory Health Insurance Act.

Jasminko Herceg, head of the coordinating body of wholesale pharmaceutical companies at the Croatian Employers Association, said that the disbursement of HRK 1.07 billion would be this year’s third tranche to service hospitals’ debts towards wholesalers, to which the government committed in June this year.

“HRK 3.5 billion (€466.6m) was agreed for debt service, of which more than 2 billion was to go towards hospitals’ debt and the rest towards pharmacies’ debt. The amount for the pharmacies and slightly over HRK 1 billion for the hospitals has been disbursed. The difference of up to the HRK 3.5 billion agreed will be paid out now,” Herceg told Hina.

The total debt of hospitals towards pharmaceutical wholesalers currently stands at around HRK 5 billion (€666.6m).

“As far as the debts are concerned, they are under control, and patients need not fear a shortage of medicines,” Herceg said.

Jakov Radosevic, a member of the management board of Medika, Croatia’s oldest pharmaceutical wholesaler, said that of the HRK 1.07 billion, around 700 million (€93.3m) would be allocated to state-owned hospitals and the rest to county-owned hospitals.

After Minister Beros announced that the deadline for payments to wholesalers would be shortened to 120 days, Radosevic said they would be happy if payments were made within 200 days, recalling that the payment periods were previously about 360 days and longer, while the statutory deadline is 60 days.