31 pharmacies in the Algarve, more than a quarter of the total in the region, will enter, in 2018, "in a situation of pledge or insolvency", warned the National Association of Pharmacies (ANF). All because of an economic crisis that "sharpened in 2017" and will extend into this year, which leaves 27 percent of Algarve pharmacies "without guarantees of survival".
Data from the Center for Health Assessment Studies (CEFAR) reveal that in the Algarve there are 31 pharmacies at risk of closing, due to financial difficulties. But this is not a problem unique to the Algarve region. At the national level, there are 630 businesses of this nature, in a universe of 2943, that face the same situation.
«The Portuguese economy has taken steps forward, but pharmacies continue to live in a climate of crisis and austerity», said Paulo Cleto Duarte, president of the ANF.
"Despite the difficulties, pharmacists and their teams will continue to fight to continue offering the most isolated populations access to health care," said the same official.
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