Medicine suppliers asked the Government to urgently pay them 17 million euros owed to them by the Health Care Fund, because otherwise they will be forced to stop supplying medicines to pharmacies. They warn that this would lead to an absolute shortage of medicines in Montenegro.
Those 17 million are due debt for the collection of a total of 24 million, which the Fund owes to wholesalers. These are accumulated liabilities for the previous three years.
The Association of Wholesalers informed Prime Minister Milo Đukanović, Minister of Finance and Health Radoje Žugić and Budimir Šegrt about this problem. At the last session, the government decided that the state pharmacy institution Montefarm, (which calls for tenders for medicines for the Fund), will borrow 15 million from the banks at an interest rate of up to three percent in order to pay off part of the debt to wholesalers.
It was also decided that in the next year's budget, that money will be planned as an expenditure, in addition to the regular annual budget of the Health Fund. That solution is a proposal of the Ministry of Finance, which the Minister of Health proposed to the Government.
This year's budget, however, defined that the Government should borrow up to 671 million (amendment of the ruling DPS-SDP coalition), among other things, for the overdue obligations of the Health Fund of 36 million, which included debts to drugstores, which at that time were 15,8 million .
Regarding the alarming situation in the delivery of medicines, the Association of Wholesalers sent a letter to the president of the parliamentary committee for economy, Aleksandar Damjanović, with a request to help solve the problem.
They informed him that the Ministry of Finance had informed them that there was a "technical error" in the amendment on the debt of 36 million for the settlement of the obligations of the Health Fund, because in the budget, the financing item did not record 671 million, but 634 million, and the item for debt write-off of the Fund only says one euro.
"Since it is a matter of people's health and life, we are right to ask whether it is really an accidental "technical error", they state in the letter to Damjanović.
They added that they have 300 employees to whom they regularly paid their dues and were on the Tax Administration's white list, while now they are unable to regularly pay their salary contributions.
In a letter to the Prime Minister and ministers, which "Vijesti" has access to, the Association of Wholesalers reminded that the Parliament, by adopting the amendment, enabled the Government to pay the money. Due to non-payment of debt in three years, as they say, they were forced to borrow money from banks at high interest rates in order to pay the money to the manufacturers from whom they purchase medicines.
They added that due to irregular payment for the delivery of medicines, they also had to provide bank guarantees.
"Constant borrowing, without the money received, has put the company's operations into question. We have also received a warning from the banks that they will forcefully collect the debt, while the manufacturers have announced a complete suspension of drug deliveries until the arrears are settled. The reserves of drugs in wholesalers are minimal. Montenegrin healthcare cannot rely on them either," the letter to the executive power states.
Badly planned healthcare budget, so there is no money for what is needed
The Association of Wholesalers informed Damjanović that the accumulation of obligations is also due to the fact that the money planned for the purchase of medicines is diverted to other positions within the Health Fund, such as travel expenses, treatment abroad...
"The problem arises in poor planning because the planned quantities are less than necessary, so for a certain number of preparations the tender is announced twice a year. The budget is planned at the level of the year and for all additional quantities of missing medicines, which are provided by tender during the year, is not provided The law on public procurement stipulates that this money must be provided before the tender is announced," the letter states.
To call for tenders, the Health Fund and the Ministry of Health create a list of preparations, and the prescribed deadline for payment is 90 days from the date of the invoice.
Damjanović: The error in the debt item is intentional and reduces the deficit
Damjanović told "Vijesta" that the proposal of the conclusions of the Ministry of Health to the Government, in order to "supposedly solve the problem", is hypocritical if one takes into account the big problem in the supply of medicines and the possible shortage due to debt.
He added that Article 11 of the Law on the Budget defines a debt of 671 million, as well as that the decision on borrowing and giving guarantees for this year states that the Government can borrow 671 million, of which 36 million refers to the settlement of obligations of the Health Fund.
"The total outstanding liabilities of the Health Care Fund have grown to more than 40 million and are increasing every day. If the Government's silence and failure to solve the problem continue, this will quickly lead to an absolute shortage of medicines in Montenegro. Without entering into the nonsense that someone "missed out" on purpose that the budget shows the amount of 36 million in the position of "debt repayment" of the Healthcare Fund and the fact that in Article 1 of the law on the budget loans and credits of 634 million are planned (which ingeniously "reduced" the deficit), the question remains why the Government violates the Law on the budget that she proposed", stressed Damjanović.
He said that the question is why it is proposed that Montefarm sign a contract with the banks, all with interest, and that the Government's obligations for medicines that were delivered and consumed three years ago be postponed to 2016.
"The government should answer whether, during the bond issue, it disclosed 36 million to foreign buyers through the issue prospectus, which it is now trying to forget. The question is also whether the orderly supply of medicines to citizens is more important than the debatable highway project or the repayment of guarantees for private companies", Damjanovic said.
He reminded that last year the Government violated the conclusions of the Assembly and directed surpluses in the budget to pay off guarantees, instead of social benefits. He believes that it is inadmissible for the Government to act in a similar way this time and spend the budget revenues on its known priorities, while the orderly supply of medicines is called into question. He said that at the next meeting of the board, he will deal with that problem, since it is about the implementation of the law on the budget, which must be respected.
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