Long queues at health centres

There was much huffing and puffing at the Paola health centre pharmacy yesterday morning as 24 people waited to pick up their medicines at 9 a.m.

Gzira residents too had their share of grumbling on Monday morning as 20-odd patients waited in line.

According to the irate patients, this was not the first time they had to wait for hours on end to collect their free medicines. A woman who went to the Gzira pharmacy on Saturday said there were about 50 people queuing up at 8.30 a.m.

Another patient who went to the pharmacy a couple of days ago complained that there were about 70 people in the queue when he arrived at 9 a.m. One man said anyone going to collect medicine from the Gzira health clinic had to be prepared to wait for at least two hours.

No queues were noticed at the Floriana pharmacy yesterday morning.

Primary Health Care director Andrew Amato Gauci said when contacted that queues have gone down substantially and the waiting times cut after the health authorities took a number of measures.

The opening hours of state pharmacies were extended as a temporary measure until more pharmacists are employed, Dr Amato Gauci said.

In February, Dr Amato Gauci had told The Times the number of patients attending community pharmacies had increased by 13.5 per cent between 2004 and last year, going up to 456,931 from 402,512. The number of prescriptions rose by 11 per cent, to 673,548, and the number of items dispensed rose by 10 per cent to over 1.2 million.