Following the agreement between the SGK and TEB, some 24,000 pharmacies are expected to renew their purchase contracts with TEB. In a written statement on Thursday, TEB said pharmacies should renew their contracts by the end of February. Pharmacies will be charged from TL 250 to TL 500 by TEB to secure the contract with the government. As part of a three-year purchase contract signed between TEB and the SGK on Jan. 19 of last year, pharmacies should renew their contracts with TEB in February each year.
In November 2009, the government introduced discounts on state-sponsored drug sales to the public. Arguing that the price revision led to reduced profits for pharmacies, TEB held demonstrations on Dec. 4. The union insisted that the government annul the discounts, claiming that the cuts were being taken out of pharmacists’ earnings. The government, however, said the discounts were intended to reduce health-care costs.
Having failed to reach a consensus with the union, the SGK applied to the Council of State in January, demanding that their contract with TEB be canceled. The institution said they would be negotiating contract terms directly with individual pharmacists, bypassing TEB. However, the court decided to suspend the case.
Meanwhile, TEB President Erdoğan Çolak said Thursday that they have made an agreement with the SGK to avoid a possible “drug crisis” in the market, underlining that pharmacists’ problems still linger. “The current protocol was about to expire. It must be renewed before the end of this month. We will wait until the Council of State decides on a recent SGK demand to annul the contract,” he said.
