Hospital pharmacies are closing or have already closed due to astronomic amounts of unpaid rents.
On a national scale, as much as €16 million is owed.
In Faro last week police were called to a skirmish when one of the many creditors of the capital’s hospital pharmacy tried to seize property from a sister outlet, in lieu of his ‘losses’ – which he claims amount to €79,000.
The ‘sister’ pharmacy called for police help, but agents were reported to have concluded the seizure was completely legal and allowed it to go ahead.
In Leiria, problems are even worse. The hospital pharmacy CHLP (Centro Hospitalar Leiria-Pombal) owes €1.3 million in unpaid rent and other bills, and has been shut for the last year.
Behind the shuttered grills, there are 90 cardboard boxes filled with “hundreds of medicines”, which now run the risk of being destroyed.
Creditors however are against this, as they say the drugs are all in perfect re-sale condition and represent a “relevant economic value”.
Meantime, the reason given for so many hospital pharmacies collapsing is the government’s “alteration of health policies”, which have drastically changed market conditions.
Put more directly, rents charged to hospital pharmacies stopped being realistic with the introduction of generics and cheaper medication.
