The Department of Health has filed notice with the Constitutional Court to appeal against a judgement by the Bloemfontein Supreme Court of Appeal annulling the government’s new medicine-pricing regulations, the government news agency BuaNews reported on Wednesday.
According to the department’s head of pharmaceutical policy and planning, Dr Humphrey Zokufa, the appeal effectively suspends the Supreme Court of Appeal judgement passed on Tuesday.
”This means that the ruling by the Cape High Court that dismissed the applications by pharmaceutical companies and the status quo prior to yesterday’s ruling remains the only legal instrument,” he explained to BuaNews.
Asked if the appeal date has been set, Dr Zokufa said the department is waiting to hear from the Constitutional Court.
”That may well be early January due to the festive holidays,” he said.
The Appeal Court on Monday ruled in favour of pharmaceutical companies, New Clicks, the Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa and six other entities that had applied for the regulations to be scrapped.
The regulations affect the pricing of medicines across the entire distribution chain, from the factory to pharmacy shelves.
In terms of the regulations, for medicine purchased without a prescription, a dispensing fee of 16% up to a maximum of R16 can be charged.
The same maximum dispensing fee applies to any medicine received from a licensed dispensing health professional.
Medicines requiring a prescription can be levied at a dispensing fee of 26%, but not exceeding R26 of the single exit price.
The government believes that until recently manufacturers have charged different prices to different customers using a ”complicated” system of rebates, discounts and other incentives.
Since the regulations were promulgated, pharmacists have been charging administration fees to make up for the smaller profit margins. — I-Net Bridge