NATCHEZ &8212; With a second Walgreens Drug Store on the horizon, Natchez certainly has its share of pharmacies.

But even among the more than dozen Natchez pharmacies already in the phone book, none of them are open 24-hours a day.

The latest any pharmacy stays open on Saturday is 7 p.m. If a pharmacy is open at all on Sunday, like the ones at Walgreens Drug Store or Wal-Mart, it is only open until 6 p.m.

If a patient is released from the hospital after business hours on the weekend, he has few options.

Some health care centers will give the patient enough medicine to get him through the weekend.

&8220;If it&8217;s after pharmacy hours, we&8217;ll order a dose in the ER to be given to the patient, or a physician can give a dose to the patient to get them through,&8221; Natchez Regional Medical Center Nurse Manager Naomi Hayes said.

&8220;We know the pharmacies&8217; hours, so we know when to give it.&8221;

If a patient has not come from the hospital but desperately needs a prescription filled, there are ways to get it, said Michael Winn, owner of Winn Pharmacy.

&8220;It depends on the situation,&8221; Winn said. &8220;Different pharmacies have different set-ups. Any of my normal customers can call me, and if it&8217;s critical, I can meet them at a certain time and get it taken care of.&8221;

Winn said he has even come in on Christmas Day.

&8220;It was an asthmatic patient, and they really needed it,&8221; Winn said.

Frank Ernst, pharmacist and partial owner of Ernst Pharmacy, said his pharmacy has a 24-hour emergency service for its customers. Not all medicines qualify as an emergency, he said, but most of the time, if a customer really needs a prescription, they can get it.

&8220;If it&8217;s Sunday, I might meet you at the halftime of a football game, but I&8217;ll meet you,&8221; Ernst said.

The reason pharmacies don&8217;t stay open late, as a rule, Ernst said, is that in order to break even, pharmacies have to fill 150 prescriptions every eight hours. If they are open late, they may not get enough customers during those extra hours to make it worthwhile, he said.