(regions.it) The agreement that the Regions have reached on the health pact represents "an enormous assumption of responsibility". This was explained by the coordinator of the Financial Affairs Commission of the Conference of Regions, Romano Colozzi.
“It has never happened – added Colozzi – that an institutional level accentuated the severity of controls on public spending as in this case. If this practice were extended to all levels, it would be a true Copernican revolution. We must not continue to say that the increase in spending is the fault of a cynical and cheating fate, but positive measures to control spending must be implemented”. This is because between the Regions "there has been a great sense of responsibility and, for the first time, strict rules have been identified for the containment of public expenditure which should be implemented in all sectors of the public administration, from municipalities to ministries".
"There is a commitment to open a technical-political round table within 30 days to tackle the 800 million issue for pharmaceuticals". This was stated by the vice president of the Conference of Regions and president of the Molise Region, Michele Iorio.
Iorio he reiterated that the figure of 800 million "is in the Fund, it is allocated" but the hedging mechanism envisaged in the Pact, linked to the renegotiation of drug prices with AIFA, would not guarantee an income of this amount for the Regions . For this reason, the Regions are asking for an extension "of at least six months" of the discount mechanism currently in force and which will expire at the end of the year.
According to Colozzi, "the agreement on pharmaceuticals will be reached by the table within three months at the latest – he estimates – because it is in the interest of the State and the Regions to do so as soon as possible". While the coordinator of the health councilors, Enrico Rossi, is worried "I'm worried - he explains - about the possibility that the table will reach a rapid agreement, while progress has been made for everything else. If the rules on extra discounts are not reintroduced – adds Rossi – there is the risk of giving away one million euros to finance an income of the pharmaceutical industry which is not the one that invests in innovation, paying moreover for generic drugs the 30% more than the rest of Europe. Rossi – that particular interests have prevailed over the general ones".
"The Government - adds Tommaso Fiore, councilor for health of the Puglia Region - is against the restoration of extra-discounts. This is 800 million which, in this way, would be subtracted from the Regions and paid into the system of pharmacies" or rather "destined , with an ad hoc provision in January – he hypothesizes – in favor of the State, for cash reasons".
2010-2012. The president of the Region, Gianni Chiodi, underlined how the Pact has in fact sanctioned the rule that the commissioner will be the president of the Reg
