The president of ANDAR, Arsisete Saraiva, highlighted issues at the hospitals of Leiria and Alcobaça, noting that patients are often unable to choose where they can collect their medication, and the quantities provided frequently do not meet the two-month supply stipulated by law.
“The main problem is that they do not comply with the laws,” said Arsisete Saraiva, pointing out that currently, those failing to comply with localized dispensing regulations include Infarmed, SPMS, the Directorate-General of Health, ACSS, and SUCH.
A decree regulating the proximity dispensing of prescribed hospital outpatient medications within the National Health Service (SNS) establishments was published in March last year. It was intended to be enforced by May 13, 2024.
This regulation was supposed to grant patients the right to opt into the system “through a free and informed declaration, preferably written,” select the dispensing location, and change it, ensuring they obtain the necessary medications to continue their treatment as legally prescribed.
In statements, the head of ANDAR explained: “The hospital of Leiria claims that these norms have not been implemented at their facility and that the ministry services (SPMS) have not done so, and thus the hospital administration proceeds as it sees fit.”
She recounted how an outpatient pharmacy at this hospital told a patient, living in Nazaré, that she could not choose the location for receiving her hospital-supplied medication – against the rules – deciding she must collect her medication at the Nazaré health center on Tuesdays, or have a family member do so.
“Ironically, this patient works in Leiria on that day and time, so she cannot be at the Nazaré Health Center,” she explained, adding that the patient knows of a pharmacy in Nazaré participating in proximity medication dispensing, receiving daily deliveries from hospitals in Coimbra, Lisbon, and others.
She also emphasized that the dispensing hours at this pharmacy are more convenient for the patient, allowing medication pick-up from 08:00 to 21:00.
The official, who collects medication for multiple patients as part of an association project since the pandemic, further criticized that in Leiria, the hospital pharmacy’s schedule does not meet patient needs.
“It’s open from 10:30 to 12:30, and then from 15:30 to 16:30. A pharmacy exists to serve people, right?” she questioned, insisting that the Hospital of Leiria claims the regulation is not yet in effect there.
Regarding the quantities of medication provided to patients, she recalled an August 2024 directive from the former Secretary of State for Health, stating that medicines dispensed locally – whether in the hospital’s pharmaceutical services, another health unit, or a community pharmacy – are meant to cover two months.
This directive was intended to take effect the day after its publication, producing outcomes from January 1, 2025.
“However, they only supply medication for one month, and during holidays, patients must plead and submit requests to the Administrative Council to secure treatment for that period,” lamented the association.
To avoid “excuses” about information and monitoring systems, she added that the same directive envisaged full system implementation by the end of the first half of 2024.
“But we are in June 2025, almost a year later, and little has been accomplished,” she lamented.
Inquiry to the Executive Directorate of the SNS on this matter has gone unanswered.
