The Valencian Government informs pharmacies of payment delays of one month

As the months go by, the Valencian Government's cash flow problems are becoming apparent. The DANA disaster has forced it to redirect part of its resources to the emergency response. This is compounded by the fact that, for the first time since 2012, the central government has not approved the so-called extraordinary FLA , which provided funding equivalent to the previous year's excess deficit to communities like Valencia.

The Valencian Council's Department of Health has already informed pharmacies that the lack of this instrument, estimated at around 2.5 billion euros per year , will result in delays in future payments.

This is what the Minister of Health, Marciano Gómez, has communicated to the presidents of the three Colleges of Pharmacists. The administration estimates that it will have to delay payments to pharmacists' offices for one month , one of the largest expenditures for the regional coffers.

Gómez insisted on blaming this situation on the non-approval of the extra FLA , which was expected to provide €1.9 billion in July . Faced with the lack of liquidity, the Mazón government asserts that it is making a huge treasury management effort to expedite and regularize payments to a sector like the pharmaceutical sector, which is a priority for providing healthcare to citizens.

At the end of May, the Valencian president himself called the main supplier and contractor associations to express the difficulties in receiving payments from the government and to ask them to join forces to demand the central government's payment for these invoices.

A situation aggravated by the lack of advance payments , finally approved a few days ago, due to which the Generalitat estimates it has missed out on receiving €165 million per month . Added to this are the additional expenses and investments to address the DANA.

According to the latest data from the regional government, commercial debt stood at nearly €1.767 billion at the end of April. Of this, 83% corresponds to public healthcare , which represents the largest expenditure item in the budget, while Social Services and Education each account for 5%.