"If the Government does not listen to our reasons, we dissolve our contract with the National Health System". The threat from pharmacists is not one of the many union provocations with which in recent weeks taxi drivers, lawyers and bakers have tried (and are still trying) to convince the Minister of Economic Development Pierluigi Bersani to dialogue with the categories, before turning the liberalization decree. Because behind Federfarma's words there is more substance than rhetoric. In fact, with the dissolution of the contract, the National Association of Private Pharmacy Owners says it is ready to collect the debt it owes to the Ministry of Health: “Over a billion euros”, specifies Carlo Ghiani, president of Credifarma, the financial company of the Association of Pharmacists. A sum not yet pocketed "due to arrears - underlines Ghiani - of regions such as Lazio, Campania, Sicily and Calabria in debt to Credifarma for medicines purchased and not yet paid". On the desks of the officials of the "pharmacists' bank" there are about seven thousand payment injunctions ready to be sent to the cashiers of the ministry.
In short, Federfarma - 40,000 members and 16,500 participating pharmacies out of a total of 17,600 - has chosen the line of sober but decisive protest to tell the government that "before carrying out a reform whose spirit we share, however - adds Giorgio Siri, president of the 'Association – it would be advisable at least to consult us'. A first opportunity (but time is short because, as Bersani declared to La Repubblica, "I want the decree converted into law by the end of July") will be at the ministry today at 1pm. An appointment with ambiguous contours because after announcing in recent days that "all the corrections that needed to be made have been made" yesterday Bersani himself resumed the discussion, declaring that "in the parliamentary debate we will make some adjustments, but we could also introduce some other innovations for the benefit of consumers”. In this game of unstable balances, despite the pharmacists saying they were amazed by the minister's behavior but "trusting in some form of opening", Wednesday's pharmacy strike was confirmed. According to the owners, there are still many critical points in the provision: the figure of the pharmacist must be linked to the pharmacy and to a limit to be established both on the number of pharmacies that a company can manage and on that of companies in which a pharmacist can participate. "This is how it works throughout Europe - explains Siri - and, given how it is now structured, the decree does not mention any borders". The president of Federfarma also anticipates what the protest actions against the distribution companies of the large multinationals that produce the medicines excluded from the NHS will be: “We will suspend the orders: it is clear that this is an operation agreed between several subjects in which we are the excluded ones". And in the event of an increase in the prices of medicines to be paid by citizens starting from January 1st? “We will no longer treat them - Siri reiterates - who rely on advertising: if they want war, they will have war". Regarding the prices of medicines, the national secretary of the Association of Pharmacists, Franco Caprino, says he is amazed by the declarations of the Minister of Public Health, Livia Turco, on the discounts of high-end medicines from 30 to 50 percent registered in different locations: Tell us where these places are so we can run and buy them too”. Meanwhile, the decree is about to start the parliamentary approval process: it will come today
In short, Federfarma - 40,000 members and 16,500 participating pharmacies out of a total of 17,600 - has chosen the line of sober but decisive protest to tell the government that "before carrying out a reform whose spirit we share, however - adds Giorgio Siri, president of the 'Association – it would be advisable at least to consult us'. A first opportunity (but time is short because, as Bersani declared to La Repubblica, "I want the decree converted into law by the end of July") will be at the ministry today at 1pm. An appointment with ambiguous contours because after announcing in recent days that "all the corrections that needed to be made have been made" yesterday Bersani himself resumed the discussion, declaring that "in the parliamentary debate we will make some adjustments, but we could also introduce some other innovations for the benefit of consumers”. In this game of unstable balances, despite the pharmacists saying they were amazed by the minister's behavior but "trusting in some form of opening", Wednesday's pharmacy strike was confirmed. According to the owners, there are still many critical points in the provision: the figure of the pharmacist must be linked to the pharmacy and to a limit to be established both on the number of pharmacies that a company can manage and on that of companies in which a pharmacist can participate. "This is how it works throughout Europe - explains Siri - and, given how it is now structured, the decree does not mention any borders". The president of Federfarma also anticipates what the protest actions against the distribution companies of the large multinationals that produce the medicines excluded from the NHS will be: “We will suspend the orders: it is clear that this is an operation agreed between several subjects in which we are the excluded ones". And in the event of an increase in the prices of medicines to be paid by citizens starting from January 1st? “We will no longer treat them - Siri reiterates - who rely on advertising: if they want war, they will have war". Regarding the prices of medicines, the national secretary of the Association of Pharmacists, Franco Caprino, says he is amazed by the declarations of the Minister of Public Health, Livia Turco, on the discounts of high-end medicines from 30 to 50 percent registered in different locations: Tell us where these places are so we can run and buy them too”. Meanwhile, the decree is about to start the parliamentary approval process: it will come today
