A NUMBER of pharmacy owners are complaining about the long delay by the Ministry of Health to pay them for dispensing medication under the Chronic Disease Assistance Plan (CDAP).

One Arima drug-store owner told TnT Mirror that since December last year he has not been paid for his service to supply medication to aged people, who benefit under CDAP.

Under an arrangement, the Ministry of Health pays pharmacists $10 to supply prescription drugs to patients.

However, some drug-stores claim that they have not been receiving payment on a timely basis.

A Ministry of Health official said that one of the reason for late payment may be because the pharmacies do not send in their claims on time.

“We have not been receiving any reports of late payment,” the official said.

There are also reports that importers of drugs under CDAP are making a killing with their mark-up.

Some of these medications are sold for up to more than 300 per cent what it cost -- and all of them are generic drugs.

Most of the drugs are imported from manufacturers in India.

There are claims that some of these pharmaceutical manufacturing companies are not in line with international standards.