Cape Town pharmacies reopened on Thursday after a one-day protest over threats of arrest if they charged more than new medicine pricing laws allow.
However, they are seeking clarity on whether they will be allowed to charge extra for faxes, calls to doctors and credit-card transactions — costs they say were included in their previous pricing structure.
“We are waiting for legal opinion,” said Stephen White, a pharmacist in Tokai.
“The law doesn’t currently define whether we can charge for that so we are seeking clarity on the interpretation of what dispensing is.”
He said it is an attempt to protect pharmacists from prosecution.
On Wednesday, White had said the pharmacies “will stay closed until we get leave to appeal. People will have to go to state facilities for their medicine.”
“I would rather take charge of my own destiny than roll over with my legs in the air,” said White.
The protest followed the reintroduction of medicine-pricing regulations after Friday’s unsuccessful Cape High Court bid by pharmacists to have them overturned. By law, pharmacists cannot charge more than a R26 dispensing fee for medication, which they have vehemently opposed since its introduction in May.
They are also compelled to charge only the single exit price of medicine — the price set by the manufacturer — and are not allowed to add their own mark-up.
White said the decision to close shop came after customers threatened a fellow pharmacist in the Cape with police charges if he did not operate according to the reinstated regulations.
Meanwhile, lawyers for the Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa, Netcare, New Clicks and a number of other organisations were meeting in chambers at the Cape High Court.
The meeting was to set a date for their application for leave to appeal last week’s dismissal of their bid to have the new legislation overturned, a court official said.
They say that the laws, which set limits on dispensing fees and outlaw mark-ups, will put pharmacists out of business. — Sapa
Pharmacies close after customer threats