Carmel Micallef is labouring under the misapprehension that private community pharmacists, whether pharmacy proprietor or employed, managing or locum pharmacists, are children of a lesser god or lesser citizens (albeit humans) of this democratic country.

In the letter, several points on independent community pharmacists in general and on the POYC project were raised, requiring clarification.

Let us state, a priori, that private community pharmacists, employed or self-employed, have the same rights as every other worker to vacation, sick leave and force majeure situations.

Also, private sector pharmacists have all the rights that their colleagues in government service have. No one should even suggest that they be deprived of such rights, which are protected by the Constitution and EU rules.

With reference to the Pharmacy of Your Choice (POYC) scheme, it should be clarified - although, these facts are known full well by the 25,000 patients and their carers, being served to date by 68 pharmacies and about 150 pharmacists and other staff in 25 localities in Malta where the POYC is in the implementation phase - that the ambience in private community pharmacy is much better than the government pharmacy layout. The systems devised by most pharmacies are not conducive to the development of queues. Should one have to wait however, there are always chairs to sit down on. To our knowledge, patients and carers are not allowed to jump queues at the government pharmacies as the letter seems to infer.

Patients working in retail outlets are reaping benefits from POYC. In fact, private pharmacies are open in the morning and evenings as opposed to the morning-only sessions in government pharmacies.

Patient counselling where needed is being delivered. Does the correspondent imply that locum or rotational pharmacists are lesser professionals or have lesser responsibilities? They do not. Our wish is that the time for one-to-one counselling will be improved by less bureaucratic procedures. This also depends on the government's willingness.

Redirecting patients to other pharmacies in the scheme to obtain out of stock medicines as at government pharmacies is a valid point which has been proposed, however, the government does not seem willing to implement this.

The query with regard to the presence of a family doctor at the government clinics for the issuing of prescriptions for NHS medicines should be redirected to the government which sets policies. Lately we have heard that the government is working on the "doctor of your choice scheme" which would eliminate this difficulty. It would help communication between pharmacist and prescriber if, for example, the name and phone number of the prescriber, be it a government or private doctor, is clearly indicated on the prescription.

The pharmacy regulations, which are annexed to the agreement on the POYC scheme, provide for the acceptance of the scheme with the issue of new pharmacy licences.

The writer mentioned lifts, ramps etc. We are amazed that these were mentioned when a quick visit to some health centre pharmacies would convince one and all that such government sites lack these facilities for persons with special needs. Nonetheless, where possible these matters can and are being addressed.

All regulations governing the dispensing of NHS medicines are being applied to community pharmacies in the POYC. Thus yes, after due date patients are still accommodated. It would be expected that all policies and protocols on the prescribing and dispensing of NHS medicines are enforced and applied by all health care professionals involved whether in public or private service, including of course, doctors and pharmacists.

However, policies and protocols which undermine the principle of decentralisation - the primary goal of the POYC - should be reviewed.

It should be noted that the POYC brings us close to the EU model implemented in all 26 countries except Malta, which up to lately had a rudimentary scheme of dispensing NHS medicines, and, Malta should be proud that in a short time frame, after full national implementation of the POYC, all private community pharmacies would be computerised; this has not been yet achieved in most of the 26 other EU countries.

If the correspondent is a layman, the letter highlights the urgent need to inform and educate the public on the benefits and procedures of the POYC. We have been insisting, before inception, that an aggressive campaign should be launched and sustained, directed at the public on the model of the Euro changeover and the migration to Mater Dei Hospital campaigns. To date our insistent recommendations have fallen on deaf ears! If the writer is a health care professional, it is a pity that he cannot perceive how the POYC benefits patients.

One might ask, in whose interest has he put pen to paper ?