Prime Minister Joseph Muscat described the out-of-stock medicine situation as untenable but urged people not to panic.
On Thursday, Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia denied that out-of-stock medicines had reached alarming levels. Although there were problems with a few medicines, he said the procurement system was under review.
Dr Muscat said yesterday he was still unsatisfied with the situation and the Government was working to rectify the situation.
I hope that for the next budget we would be able to launch the first part of the required changes
In the same way former EU Commissioner John Dalli is reviewing Mater Dei Hospital, the Government is reviewing the medicine procurement system, Dr Muscat said, adding that the principle of free medicine for all will remain.
“The Government has spoken to social partners about our plans, and I hope that for the next budget we would be able to launch the first part of the required changes,” said the Prime Minister, following a visit to restoration works at Our Lady of Victory church in Valletta.
He said the Health Minister meant the situation was “difficult”, but stressed there should be no run for medicine or people should be alarmed.
Times of Malta spoke to two pharmacists who said that the number of out-of-stock medicines was higher than ever. This view was reiterated by the Malta Chamber of Pharmacists president Mary Ann Sant Fournier.
When contacted, a Health Ministry spokesman said the situation changed continuously.
“An out-of-stock situation at source does not necessarily mean that all the 214 community pharmacies participating in the POYC scheme are out of stock of that particular item.
“In such a situation, the POYC unit carries out a redistribution of stock exercise to mitigate the situation until the stock is received from the Central Procurement Unit, which is the Government’s Unit responsible for the procurement of pharmaceutical stock,” he said.
Once the stock is received at the POYC unit’s stores, it is immediately distributed to all the participating community pharmacies.
Pharmacists were also informed by POYC to stop sending patients to health centres and Mater Dei Hospital for medicine.
The spokesman said there were more than 112,000 Schedule V (kartuna safra) patients so it was crucial to streamline operations.
The Floriana and Paola Health Centre pharmacies cater for Schedule II (kartuna roża) card holders and their stock holding level is targeted to meet those demands.
The Mater Dei Hospital pharmacy stock was meant to cater for the hospital and patients leaving the hospital.
The Chamber of Pharmacists told Times of Malta that the POYC Standing Advisory Committee had not met since January 2013 but the ministry spokesman said it met in January and February.
“The ministry was only informed about the situation in mid-August, when the Chamber of Pharmacists had an official meeting with the Health Minister,” he said, adding that the next meeting was scheduled to be held on September 16, with the agenda being sent to members yesterday afternoon.
In a reaction to Dr Muscat’s comments, the Malta Chamber of Pharmacists and the GRTU Pharmacy Section expressed surprise at his statement that the POYC was not functioning, noting they believed he was misinformed about the system.
The remit of pharmacists according to the POYC agreement was to host the scheme in private pharmacies, while the Government’s remit was to keep the POYC department fully stocked, and consequently all POYC participating pharmacies with adequate quantities of medicines in a timely way.
“The only decades-long cardinal problem has remained the same – the Jurassic procurement arm Central Procurement Supply Unit – the responsibility of which falls squarely on the shoulders of the administrations,” they said.