About 63,000 people are benefiting from the pharmacy of your choice scheme that allows them to pick up free medicines they are entitled to from their local pharmacy, Health Minister Joseph Cassar said.

The scheme has now been extended to a total of 129 pharmacies and the plan is to include the bulk of Malta’s 208 pharmacies by the end of next year, he said during a visit to a Paola pharmacy that recently joined the scheme.

Dr Cassar said government offered 1,329 different medicines through the scheme. He admitted that this was a challenge to pharmacies that had to cope with an added influx of clients and had to create a new set-up for the free medicines.

The new localities recently included in the scheme, he said, were Fgura, Paola, Vittoriosa, Cospicua, Senglea and Kalkara.

Dr Cassar added that government was committed to ensuring that free medicines were always in stock. Government was also in the process of amending the law that lists the medical conditions for which patients are entitled to free medicines.