Whenever I hear or read that the prices of a number of medicines have been reduced I am not at all impressed. During the years I have been writing about the scandalous prices of medicines in Malta it has emerged that a number of those same medicines were still more expensive than the price in countries such as Spain, Portugal, Italy, the UK and Belgium.
Another list of nine medicines which have had a price reduction has just been announced. From this last list I note that the price of Olanzapin Actavis 5mg has been reduced from €58.45 to €24.99, a reduction of €33.46, or 57.3 per cent. So I conclude that Maltese consumers were paying €33.46 extra whenever they bought this medicine.
There are other examples in the list just published by Consumer Affairs Minister Helena Dalli which show a reduction of 64.9 per cent or 59.6 per cent. All this confirms what so many people have been complaining about in the past.
While it is very good to know that more medicine prices have been reduced, I ask again what guarantee exists that importers have not increased the price of other medicines.
What about the high prices of blood glucose test strips and lancets, which are a dire necessity for diabetics? Is anything being done about them?