Call to cut queues for free medicine

Citizens and local councils are being urged to press the government to implement the pharmacy-of-your-choice scheme.

Pharmacy owners are angry that despite a commitment from both political parties to implement such a system 10 years ago, people still have to queue at government pharmacies to collect free medicines.

The current system, which is defunct in the rest of the EU, is costing the government just under Lm1 million annually, according to the Chamber of Pharmacists.

The proposed scheme would allow patients to pick up free medicines from the pharmacy of their choice, Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises - GRTU director general Vince Farrugia explained.

The only issue, Mr Farrugia noted, was that the government did not want to pay pharmacies for the service.

During a press conference yesterday, Mr Farrugia said pharmacy owners were not looking out to make money out of this service but at least expected the government to cover their costs.

"You cannot expect anyone to work for free," he said, adding that the additional workload might mean some pharmacies would need to extend their premises or even find new ones.

However, he stressed, nobody was expecting patients to pay for the service, although Chamber of Pharmacists president Mary Anne Sant Fournier said studies carried out locally showed patients were prepared to pay for such a service.

As things stood, with numerous patients going to government pharmacies to pick up their medicines, Mrs Sant Fournier said pharmacists did not have the time for one-to-one contact with patients.

Proper supervision by pharmacists could reduce medical problems and hospital admissions stemming from medicinal misuse as well and cut wastage, she added.

Mario Debono, president of the GRTU Pharmacy Owners Section, said around 103,000 patients are entitled to free medicines. Some 30,000 and 40,000 people are entitled to all medicines free of charge, although the extent of the overlap between the two groups is unknown.

The government spends about Lm0.9 million a year to finance the distribution of medicines from state pharmacies. Moreover, it spends around Lm2.5 million annually to buy and distribute medicines, he said.

Asked whether the new scheme would do away with the need for government pharmacies, Mr Farrugia said the government could either decide to close them and re-deploy the employees or they could operate as part of the new scheme.

"It's time for the government to decide," Mr Farrugia said, adding that a solution was around the corner and once this was found, only a few months were needed to get it off the ground.

Contacted yesterday, an official at the Office of the Prime Minister said discussions were ongoing and expressed hope that goodwill would lead to a good working arrangement.