Madam, – Why is the Government patting itself on the back for price reductions from branded drug manufacturers, when most of the drugs on the list are already off-patent for years and are readily available in generic form? Examples are ibuprofen, amoxicillin, diclofenac, carvedilol and metronidazole.
Why doesn’t the Government tender to Irish generic companies for the supply of these drugs? (There are many who can supply them locally). Why don’t we introduce a policy whereby if a cheaper form of the drug is available from an Irish manufacturer then the HSE should favour this?
I was a public patient in hospital last May and was given brand leader paracetamol for pain relief. When I questioned the nurse as to why a much cheaper version of paracetamol was not being used, she couldn’t explain. Multiply that by every patient in every hospital and paracetamol alone, one of the cheaper drugs, will give a significant saving. Use this policy with all off-patent drugs and the savings become much more effective.
But no, we prefer to reduce wages of dedicated nursing staff and make other cuts at the frontline of healthcare where the patient suffers as a result.
I am appalled at the Government’s lack of action and feel ashamed to be Irish in the current leadership situation. If the Government thinks it is hoodwinking the public with this “throwing of crumbs” gesture of health sector cost cutting, it needs to think again and take some real action.
Of course any cost-cutting is welcome, but this is just a drop in the ocean of what is achievable. Is this what we pay our hard-earned taxes for? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – while the recent price reductions of many off-patent prescription medicines is a move which is widely to be welcomed, the manner in which it has been done is not.
Pharmacists were given 10 days’ notice of exactly which products were to be reduced – 10 days to dispense everything on their shelves that they had bought at the previously higher price or dispense it at a sizeable loss after February 1st. To give one example, a pack of 30 Zofran 8mg tablets, used for post-chemotherapy nausea and vomiting, cost €208.44 before February 1st. This now costs €125.06 – a great reduction, but what about the pharmacists who had this product on their shelves before this magical list was released? They will be dispensing this at a loss. How many businesses are expected to sell the stock they paid for at a loss, and one of such magnitude?
It is a sorry day when pharmacists will have to make the decision either not to regularly keep items such as this in stock or to risk having the carpet pulled from under their feet again. What is the point in pharmacies opening late to facilitate people who are working, or who have just been discharged from hospital in need of vital medicine, when they cannot afford to risk keeping any stock?
Another point which seems to have been missed by the mainstream media is that the prices on the list are the prices the wholesaler buys the drugs from the manufacturer. The wholesaler then adds its mark-up before selling them to the pharmacist. To say the list is misleading is putting it mildly. – Yours, etc,