Smaller pharmacies  set to close as 30% discount arrives

On the eve of the introduction of an Executive Decree, which set 30% discounts on the price of 170 medicines owners of medium and small pharmacies have yet to reach an agreement with authorities of the Ministry of Health.

While the Government insists that the decree enters into force on Monday, August 15, as planned, the National Union of Pharmacy Owners (Unprofa) is requesting its repeal or putting it on “pause”.

Both parties met on Friday and Saturday, but there was no consensus reports La Prensa.

Orlando Pérez, president of Unprofa, said that the Government must look for the true genesis of the high prices of medicines since pharmacies do not have high-profit margins.

The negotiations will continue Sunday, according to the Minsa.

Orlando Pérez, president of Unprofa, has had a busy agenda, between Friday, August 12, and Saturday, August 13, which included meetings with the National Council of Private Enterprise (Conep), the Authority for Consumer Protection and Defense of Competition (Acodeco) and personnel from the Ministry of Health (Minsa).

On Friday, after hours of conversations, they did not reach any agreement on their main request: to repeal the executive decree or to “put it on pause”, so that all the actors – be they pharmaceutical companies, distributors, and pharmacies – seek a solution to the conflict.

“We do not earn large percentages of money and they [the Government] must look for the true genesis of the problem. This is solved by the big pharmaceutical companies that produce the medicines together with the big distributors, but we do not have profit margins to cover the discounts imposed by the authorities. This decree punishes us”, said the leader of the small pharmacy owners.

On Saturday, Pérez met again with Minsa authorities, in order to find a way out of the problem. If they do not reach agreements, they will close their doors starting, Monday, when the Executive Decree comes into effect.