Government pharmacies would open one hour late on Monday unless pharmacists who left or were transferred were replaced, the Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin said yesterday.

Lamenting the "abandoned" state of its pharmacies, the union said that when the Pharmacy of Your Choice scheme was launched it became harder for the public to be given the type of service they deserved. The number of workers in such pharmacies was constantly going down but those who remained still had to provide a direct service to more than 110,000 patients. Meanwhile, the same number of employees working in the department, set up by the government for the POYC, were preparing medicines for 20,000 patients, the union said.

The Pharmacy of Your Choice scheme allows patients to pick up medicines they are entitled to from their chosen private pharmacy instead of from a government pharmacy. It was introduced last year in some localities but has not yet been rolled out all over the country, as planned.