Medicine prices still higher than in rest of EU

Much has been said and written on medicine prices in Malta, mostly by my good friend, Labour MEP John Attard Montalto. I myself have tabled parliamentary questions on the matter, especially the problems facing those who are entitled to free medicines.

Recently, newspapers carried full-page adverts in which government boasted of the fact that up to now around 130 medicines have had their prices reduced. What was not said in that advert was that around 3,900 different types of medicines are imported in Malta, which means that just 3.3 per cent of all the medicines imported are now cheaper.

Many correspondents have given examples of how medicines whose prices have been reduced are still being sold at a higher price than those found in other EU countries.

One example given by Dr Attard Montalto is that of a box of 28 Zocor 20 mg pills, which in Malta sells at €24.77 (down from €34.94). The price of this medicine in Brussels is €21.71 for a box of 84 pills, or €7.23 for 28 pills! And yet the salaries and pensions of those who live and work in Brussels are much higher than those in Malta.

The only way local consumers can be satisfied that medicines are being sold at a fair and just price in Malta is by publicly stating how much one must pay for the same medicines in other EU states where salaries and pensions are similar to those in Malta. This can be done, for a start, with medicines whose price has been reduced.

Will Health Minister Joe Cassar and Parliamentary Secretary Chris Said accept this challenge?