Pharmacists say UHM fails to understand benefits

The Chamber of Pharmacists said the Union Haddiema Maghqudin had not understood the full benefits of the pharmacy-of-your-choice scheme, to be introduced soon.

The new decentralised service, the chamber said, would hold a number of benefits for patients.

"Decentralisation is a reality the UHM must face. We are in the third millennium after all!" it said.

The chamber said the agreement on the scheme would also lead to new licences and job and practice opportunities for pharmacists.

The UHM has directed pharmacists working in government pharmacies not to take part in the scheme, claiming it had been left out of discussions. The UHM claimed representation of pharmacists, saying the chamber only acted on behalf of owners of pharmacies.

But the chamber said that, contrary to the UHM perception, the chamber represented pharmacists in all spheres of pharmaceutical practice, whether pharmacist pharmacy-owners, managing pharmacists or locum community pharmacists, in addition to pharmacists in academia, industry, medical representation and veterinary pharmacy. These pharmacists, the chamber said, were in private practice and the majority were employed. This was wider than the UHM's concept of "employed" pharmacists, which appeared to be limited to that of pharmacists employed by the government.

The chamber said that while the UHM welcomed the provision of a better service to patients, it was wedged in the position of those who would have Maltese patients and pharmacists in a system that was outdated by about 60 years.

For the last 20 years, the chamber said, it has worked towards the introduction of pharmaceutical care services worthy of Maltese citizens.

Long queues would become a thing of the past and this would greatly benefit patients.

The problem of out-of stock items was one of the contingencies that would be addressed, it added. It did not have the fatalistic approach the UHM was manifesting.

It called on the UHM to refrain from resorting to scare-mongering among the pharmacists it represented and among the public.