For some time now I have been trying to find justifications for the fee which most pharmacies - and clinics - are charging when one goes to consult a doctor. And frankly I can find none. I remember the days when one had to visit a doctor at his own house where usually the front room was his clinic. Then came a time when pharmacies wanted to increase their business and doctors felt the need to widen their clientele. So the two interests merged and pharmacies started putting rooms at the disposal of doctors and specialists. The doctor (or specialist) could now move from one pharmacy to the other on different days of the week and the pharmacist could be assured that at least a high percentage of visiting patients would buy the prescribed medicine - and other necessities - at his pharmacy. What I am not so sure of is whether pharmacies charged doctors for the use of their clinics. If they did, so much the better for the pharmacist; if they did not it means that the pharmacist was happy with the business the doctor generated by his practice.

So, what has changed in the last couple of years? I do not think anything has. Pharmacies are still doing a brisk business and so are the doctors and specialists, judging from the difficulty one finds to make appointments. I think pharmacies have found it most convenient to get on the bandwagon which an enterprising Sliema pharmacist started rolling a couple of years ago, especially when nobody batted an eyelid. Perhaps buses could copy the procedure. You would be asked for a fee to go on the bus and then pay the fare to go to your destination. Or the mechanic would give you two bills, one for keeping your car in his workshop and the other for working on it.

I think this fee is unfair and unjust. The patient is not using the clinic as he would use the gym or the swimming pool or the sauna or the parking area. He goes to the pharmacy because the doctor happens to be there. It is the doctor who has chosen that particular pharmacy or clinic not the patient. If the pharmacist does not ask the doctor for rent because he fears he might go somewhere else that is the pharmacist's problem. This apart from the fact that your medical insurance will not refund you this fee.