Pharmacists are concerned by what they view as the increasing number of out-of-stock medicines in the Pharmacy of Your Choice scheme, although the Health Minister believes the situation is not alarming.
“The problem is much worse than before,” one pharmacist said, pointing out that her pharmacy had problems with a variety of drugs including Omeprazole, which is used for stomach problems, and even common aspirin.
She said deliveries of POYC medicines were made to the pharmacy weekly but not all necessary medicines were being delivered.
Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia admitted a few medicines were problematic but he insisted the situation had not reached alarming levels.
The procurement system, he added, was under review.
However, another pharmacist said over the past year he had seen the situation get worse.
“This is very frustrating for pharmacists and even more for so clients who end up without their medicines… I don’t want to politicise this but I doubt this can ever be solved with such a complex tendering process,” he said.
The tendering complexity was flagged in a recent report published by the Office of the Ombudsman concluding that the medicine procurement system in place had to be completely revamped.
The problem is much worse than before
The report said the cumbersome tendering process was one of the main problem areas, with each tender taking about nine months to be adjudicated. A total of 4,551 different tenders were issued last year: 1,499 for drugs and 3,052 for equipment.
Malta Chamber of Pharmacists’ president Mary Ann Sant Fournier said pharmacists were noticing an increase in out-of-stock medicines, in particular those administered to a large number of patients.
The chamber had long been flagging up the issue and, during a recent meeting with Health Minister, raised it once again, she said.
“This disrupts proper pharmaceutical care and unnecessarily increases pharmacists’ workload while raising patients’ concerns.
“It results in missed treatments as patients do not acquire out-of-stock medicines from pharmacies’ private stock, preferring to wait until supplied, while some items are also unavailable on the private market,” she said.
Ms Sant Fournier pointed out that the POYC Standing Advisory Committee has not met since January and should be urgently convened.
The committee was the appropriate forum for further development of the POYC scheme and the place where pharmacists’ and patients’ concerns could be addressed, she said.
Questions sent to the Health Ministry remained unanswered by the time of writing.