The Board of the Federation of Pharmacy of Catalonia (FEFAC) has expressed its total disagreement with this decision, which adds to the already taken more than a year ago, when the CatSalut began to enforce the payment of 70% of the invoice 75 days, with 25 more delay. FEFAC recalls that the current payment terms and are supposed to pharmacies at a cost of 4.7 million per year. 

Therefore, this company rejects any further delay in the payment of invoices and ensures that the group is not able to support more actions or incidents that aggravate their economic situation. 

According to the administrative agencies consulted by FEFAC, 27% of pharmacies in Catalonia (over 800) are the limits of their survival and this situation may very aggravated by the delay in payment of bills of drugs, since 80% of turnover of pharmacies is for recipes that have to pay the CatSalut. FEFAC warns of negative impact that this new circumstance can have on staffing levels, as pharmacies are the property of self-employed who need credit to pay its employees monthly. 

In addition, in recent years, the sector in Catalonia has taken a number of new workers, which now reach 11,800 direct employees. Only in the province of Barcelona, ​​the number of pharmacists working in pharmacies has increased by 44% from 2000 to 2009, an increase that, according FEFAC, it is unaffordable at this time. 

The increase in investment that have had to pharmacies also have been caused by adaptation to electronic prescription system, with an annual cost of 4.5 million euros.Data on the evolution of public spending on prescriptions to pharmacies billed to pay for the CatSalut show a downward trend of their income. 

Although the number of prescriptions invoiced in Catalunya public has grown steadily over the past 10 years, turnover has dropped dramatically: if drug spending in 2003 experienced an increase of 12%, now the situation is decreasing, with an actual decline of 7.7%. 

Another is that side effects can cause a shortage of medicines, given the high cost of supporting estocs pharmacies. Therefore, FEFAC calls for urgent solution to find a bill payment to pharmacies by the Catalan Health Service, not to put more at risk the viability of the sector and continue to offer users a quality health service.