I am not at all convinced by the reply from the communications coordinator for consumer affairs, Mario Xuereb (October 28) to my letter Pills Cost Eight Times Less Abroad (October 25), in which I wrote about the scandalous difference in the price of Zocor 20 mg pills which cost eight times more in Malta than in Istanbul.

I had asked the minister (or parliamentary secretary) concerned, as well as the importer of these pills to explain this enormous difference. I had also asked if Malta’s membership of the EU had anything to do with this matter. About the latter question no reply whatsoever has been forthcoming. On the first question only the Parliamentary Secretariat’s spokesman replied. Mr Xuereb repeated the mantra, that the government “was working with the stakeholders, including foreign manufacturers and local importers of medicine, with the aim of reducing the prices of more medicinal products”.

Mr Xuereb also pointed out that the price of Zocor 20 mg pills had been reduced by 30 per cent to €24.77 (from €34). It is still eight times costlier than in Istanbul! What has emerged from Mr Xuereb’s reply is that Maltese consumers were being “ripped off” by at least 30 per cent for years.

Another of his statements is worrying: “…comparing the price with one particular country is not realistic. Indeed prices of particular medicines in some countries, including Malta, may be higher or cheaper than the prices of the same medicine in other countries.” It is worrying because we can never know if the prices we are paying in Malta are the cheapest possible. Indeed, the fact that “almost 100 medicinal products” (of thousands) have had their prices reduced in the past five months, is no guarantee that their prices couldn’t have been reduced much, much more. I find it impossible to believe that the variation in prices of medicines can be eight times “cheaper or higher” – as Mr Xuereb wrote – just because one buys the medicine in one European country (Malta) instead in another. Even if the difference in price were double, I would still consider such a difference as exorbitant, let alone eight times more.

Perhaps Chris Said’s secretariat can imitate the Employment and Training Corporation’s initiative, and instead of informing Maltese citizens where they can find a particular job “in Europe”, Maltese consumers will start to be informed where “in Europe” they can find the cheapest price for their particular medicine.

I wonder too, whether Malta’s EU Commissioner, John Dalli, has anything to say about this matter of sky-high prices of medicinal products in Malta. And especially, if he intends to do something about it to protect EU consumers, particularly his fellow Maltese consumers, of whom he is responsible in the European Commission. And thus protect them from this wanton “ripping off” taking place in the medicine sector in Malta.