Cynthia Busuttil
Medicine importers 'will never accept price control'
Medicine importers are adamant that they will not accept an imposed reduction in prices, a measure proposed by Finance Minister Tonio Fenech in his Budget speech last week.
"We never accepted price control in the past and neither will we accept it in the present or in the future," said Reginald Fava, who chairs the Chamber of Commerce's healthcare business section representing importers, distributors and retailers.
Last Monday, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech admitted that the voluntary mechanism put in place to bring down medicine prices found to be higher than the EU average was not working and pledged to turn it into a mandatory one unless an alternative was found.
But Mr Fava argued that doing this would be a form of price control. "It is a different terminology to mean the introduction of price control and we are completely against it," he told The Times.
The voluntary mechanism was introduced in 2006 by the Working Committee on the Pricing of Medicinal Products, which asks importers to reduce the prices of medicines found to be higher than the EU average unless they are able justify the existing price level.
A ministry spokesman said the new consumer agency would have the legal power to order a price change if an importer, without justification, refused to voluntarily cut the price of a particular medicine found to be selling at a higher price than the EU average.
Recently two readers complained in letters to the Editor that they had bought medicines from abroad for a much cheaper price than they had purchased them in Malta. One said he bought 30 fungal infection pills for €104 from Malta but found them at less than a third of the price in London, while another said he bought a particular medicine that costs less than €13.08 in Malta for €5.23 from Lisbon.
But Mr Fava said that the exercise held to compare local medicinal prices to the EU average revealed only a few products, of the 2,500 to 3,000 currently on sale locally, marked higher than that average.
"We always do our best to keep the price of medicines as low as possible," he said. Although he admitted there were some "cowboys", he said the chamber only represented honest businessmen.
The prices of 61 medicines have been dropped as a result of the voluntary system over the past three years but Mr Fenech complained during his presentation of the Budget that the scheme did not have the desired results.
Mr Fava disagreed, saying it was the committee that was not functioning "for reasons that the government knows about" but which he would not disclose.
He said the chamber did not have any problems with price monitoring and was willing to help the authorities on this aspect.
Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises general director Vince Farrugia has also voiced disagreement with the government's proposal, telling another newspaper that the chamber would direct its members to withdraw the products affected by price control until forced pricing was removed.
Mr Fava welcomed the announcement by Mr Fenech that the government will be reducing the credit days for medicine importers from 150 to 120.
"Thank you and it's about time," he said, adding that this promise had been made five years ago.
Medicine importers have long complained that they are owed a lot of money by the government. Last month Mr Fenech admitted that the figure was in the region of €20 million - some of which fell outside the 150-day time window.
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MBorg
Nov 17th 2009, 17:51
@ David Wise.
You may be here for the lovely weather,may you enjoy it. seeing that you can find nothing to interest you. Medicines may, no lets say are, more expensive than in the UK , but to say that " the British health service is the BEST anywhere in the world " is a big joke !
Nobody can find fault with our Medical Professors, doctors or health service. English people who somtimes make use or our hospitals are always surprised at the service offered. Shall we say they always think it is the best in the world ??
David Wise
Nov 17th 2009, 14:06
We are British and decided to live in Gozo, i never buy any medication from here, i get it from my doctor in the UK, if i may add has all my medical records on COMPUTER!!! so i just have it sent over for FREE.. here it would cost me an Arm & a Leg (ha ha).and if i had to pay for it i would just go back to Britain where our health service is the Best anywhere in the world, so please don't ask the obvious what are we doing here? its an old question, my answer to that is:---we are here for the lovely weather , there is nothing else of any interest or importance to us, thats why we didn't invest in a property, but rent as then its no hasstle just one month's notice and we are off like a flash.
Ruby Jenner
Nov 16th 2009, 20:58
MBorg, I agree with your comment. When I was a tourist visiting Malta I didn't really look at the prices of lots of day to day goods but after a couple of years of living here I really think the Maltese people are getting a very raw deal. The prices especially clothes, electricals, furniture, medicines are way higher than UK but the average wages are much lower. Some people are getting very rich at the expense of the average man in the street.
MBorg
Nov 16th 2009, 20:19
"We always try to do our best to keep the price of medicines as low as possible but there are some cowboys" That is way there should be some sort of price control "Cowboys" should not be allowed to ask any price they choose. Why is it that in Malta we always get a bad deal? It is not only medicine that is more expensive. Clothes, shoes cosmetics, eletronic equipment, white goods, you name it are all more expensive if you had to compare them to other EU countries. Is there no limit to the mark up that can be added to the various imported products? Maybe the Ministry of Finance together with the importers could reach an agreement on markups. On one should be allowed to fix prices as high as one pleases.
c. camilleri
Nov 16th 2009, 18:03
Whatever Mr Fava says if the prices will not go down Govt has not option but to start importing them. The prices of medicine has unjustifiably shot up and this cannot be tolerated. Govt has to defend the sick and not allow business men to get rich upon the backs of these poor people.
lgalea
Nov 16th 2009, 14:39
Some simply want to continue skinning the people alive.
If you can ask someone who is going for a holiday to buy you a good supply of your medicine needs of go for a holiday with the excess money you would have paid to buy your medicine in Malta and go and buy it from somewhere else.
Ramon Casha
Nov 16th 2009, 10:44
Here's an idea:
The government sets up an entity to act as an importer. If any private importer is found to be inflating prices without justification and refuses to voluntarily bring their prices in line with the EU average, this "government importing agency" would then start to import the product(s) in question and sell them AT COST to pharmacies.
J. Schembri
Nov 16th 2009, 10:29
If the government really wants to grab the bull by its horns it should make it illegal for pharmaceutical companies to pay commission money on the medicine sold, and for doctors and pharmacists to receive commissions on medicine sales.
When prescribing a medicine doctors should write the scientific name of the medicine not the brand name which will get them maximum commission money.
Pharmacists should present to their clients a choice of different brands of medicines; generic pharmaceuticals should also be available in a pharmacy.
If pharmaceutical companies say that this racket does not exist than it would not affect them if the paying of commissions money and the handing out of perks on medicines is declared illegal.
John Abela
Nov 16th 2009, 10:25
I voted in favour of the EU thinking prices have to be reduced to those of other countries in EU..I want my freedom to buy from EU countries at their prices...I don't want some business making money by make the price double or 3 times as much...if they can't compete with them it's not my problem...I hope the goverment stands for the consumer who is getting poorer by the day and not businessmen who are raking in millions. If these companies feel Malta can't compete with western EU countries then they should ask for assistance from the goverment not by cheating money from the consumers.
DVella
Nov 16th 2009, 10:11
The Medicine importers can disagree all they like!! It's about time consumers are given some protection from the blatant ripping off they receive at the hands of some of the local importers!!! Why should the local consumers have to pay a higher price for several medicines than people in most other European countries??