Romanian Pharmacies Will Run Out Of Money By April – Pharmacists’ College

"Ninety pharmacies went bankrupt late-2009, and 30% were insolvent in January 2010," Pharmacists' College vice-president Clara Popescu said Tuesday in a press conference.

She said the new frame contract on healthcare will regulate the "special" relationship between family doctors and pharmacies. On the other hand, pharmacists do not know what "surprises" the new contract may have in store, Popescu said.

According to Popescu, the Brasov County Health Insurance House has already sent an e-mail warning that compensated and free medicine can no longer be issued. Also, the National Health Insurance House has advised pharmacists to set funds aside for national healthcare programs, Pharmacists' College president Dumitru Lupuleasa said.

Lupuleasa also said the College has drafted a document regarding the system's reformation, which will be presented to the Presidency, Government, Health Ministry and Health Insurance House.

Patients attending the conference complained that medicine is increasingly hard to get hold of, as HIV/AIDS sufferers received a single week's worth of treatment from the "Matei Bals" institute for the first time.

Lupuleasa said both the economic crisis and the wasteful spending in the healthcare system are responsible for this "dramatic" state of affairs.

National Health Insurance House president Lucian Duta said on March 11 that earnings for the national healthcare fund were 22% lower than the level forecast by the Finance Ministry for the month of February, leading to difficulties in paying service providers.

Last week, Duta said a new medicine compensation system will be implemented as of July 1. This, coupled with a new definition of the reference price, will hopefully mean the healthcare system's recovery, he said.

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