BARI – "The modernization of the regional health system" passes through the saving of pharmaceutical costs which is "the main objective for the coming years". This was underlined by the president of the Puglia Region, Michele Emiliano, today during a press conference on vaccinations against meningococcus.
Emiliano noted that "the appropriateness" of the prescription "is in the hands of the doctors because they have the freedom to prescribe, therefore their collaboration is essential". But it is "absolutely wrong - he remarked - to criminalize doctors whose vast majority do their duty very well". The president of the Region explained that he had «had contact with the 
main associations of family doctors to meet them and launch with them the measures that are already in a very advanced stage of study: we have committed ourselves to the Mef - he recalled - to reduce pharmaceutical expenditure in order to have resources to implement the tidying up and all other actions connected to it».
«That is – he underlined – the overall strengthening of the Apulian health system is linked, from an economic-financial point of view, to our ability to save on pharmaceutical costs. So when someone will suffer a little because we will monitor them, because we will solicit them in the prescriptive process and in the evaluation of appropriateness, citizens must know that this is the only way to save the money needed to make the modernization of the health system that we propose ».
"The tables that we will start with professionals - concluded Emiliano - will be contemporary with the strengthening of the hospital pharmaceutical distribution network, because hospitals make their negative contribution to the breakthrough in pharmaceutical spending".
23 January 2017 – La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno.it
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