Talks being held to dispense free medicines from pharmacies

People entitled to free medicines will soon be able to pick them up from the pharmacy of their choice instead of from the nine government dispensaries around the country.

Discussions about the matter are currently underway between the government, the GRTU, Malta Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises, and the Chamber of Pharmacists.

The main objective of the scheme is for a better contact between the patient and the pharmacist, Chamber of Pharmacists president Mary Ann Sant Fournier said. She said the chamber was pushing for a one-to-one relationship between the patient and the pharmacist, and not solely to make it easier for patients to get their medicines.

"The aim is to give a service to the people," she said.

The vice president of the Malta Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises, and pharmacists section president Mario Debono agreed that that the aim of the scheme was to offer a better service to customers, through better accessibility to medicines.

"Through this system people will be better served, and the stigma between those who buy their medicines and those who get them for free will end," he said.

He said patients would benefit from a personalised service. Because of the great number of people picking up medicines from the government dispensaries, the pharmacist there is not able to give them the necessary attention.

Ms Sant Fournier said the scheme would also ensure an optimal use of medicines. The chamber envisages less wastage as well as better use of human resources.

"We look at it from a wide point of view. It is not only beneficial from an economic perspective, but the patient will benefit from the intervention of the professionals about the medicine," she said.

Mr Debono explained that the nine government dispensaries get around 600,000 visits every year.

The chamber president added that discussions were still underway as to whether all pharmacies will take part in this scheme, or whether it will be on a voluntary basis.

Mr Debono said both the GRTU and the chamber believed that there should not be any imposition, but he personally believed that all pharmacies should take part in the initiative, to improve people's accessibility to medicines.

Asked whether the service would be against payment, Ms Sant Fournier said this had not been discussed yet.

Both Ms Sant Fournier and Mr Debono mentioned the possible introduction of a patient monitoring system so that the pharmacist would have the patient's medical records available. He stressed that not all medicines were good for every patient, which was why it was imperative for the pharmacist to know whether that patient had suffered from certain illnesses or was taking any other medicines.