Pharmacies stop giving medicine on credit
Pharmacists across the country have stopped giving medicines to citizens insured with seven social security funds as they say they have yet to receive some 300 million euros in unpaid debts from the funds.
Citizens insured with these funds – representing lawyers, notaries and others – must now pay for their medicines in full at pharmacies before visiting their funds to claim their subsidies.
A representative for the Panhellenic Pharmaceutical Association said the Health Ministry had made «great efforts» to tackle the problem but said it remained unresolved due to «an unbelievable level of bureaucracy and resistance by officials at the State Auditing Council.”
The action by the pharmacists is not linked to protests by professionals against government reforms aimed at opening up their sector to competition.
