The Irish Pharmaceutical Union (IPU), the representative body for 1,200 community pharmacists in Ireland, has called on the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, to extend the deadline by which people must apply for refunds for the underpayment of benefits under the Drug Payment Scheme between July 1999 and February 2001.
An investigation by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr John Purcell, found that 175,000 people were overcharged by up to €18 million for drugs.
The current deadline set by the Minister is 30th September next.
According to Karl Hilton, vice-president of the IPU, pharmacists are already being inundated by people seeking receipts and details of expenditures from this period four years ago.
"While we're delighted to assist our customers, each consultation on this issue is taking at least 20 minutes and often up to an hour to process. Many of the people seeking help on this matter are elderly and they are frequently anxious that they might somehow miss their entitlement to a refund.
"I think it would be the least the Minister can do, given that the responsibility for this mess lies with the Department, to extend the deadline for applications."
"Clearly it would be even more beneficial, though unlikely at this stage, to waive the requirement for people to apply with copies of receipts and simply to make the payments based on the Department's own knowledge of who received what payment and how much they are now entitled to."
The Department of Health has already stated that users of the scheme will have to prove they were overcharged before they will get refunds.