Comments likening them to delinquent children were insulting, a group of pharmacists challenging medicine pricing regulations said on Wednesday.
According to the United South African Pharmacies (Usap), Anban Pillay, a director in the Department of Health was quoted in an interview as saying: ”We always draw the analogy that trying to deal with the private sector is like trying to deal with a delinquent child and the child doesn’t necessarily appreciate it.
”Whatever you are doing is trying to help them for the future and not necessarily because you don’t like the child. But the child will have that perception.”
Julian Solomon, chairperson of the Usap, said Pillay’s comments, published in the latest edition of Health Management Review Africa, were insulting and suggested that only he and the department knew what was needed.
”We are professionals and we object to being infantilised like this,” said Solomon.
He said the current legislation bore little resemblance to what pharmacists were presented with by Parliament’s portfolio committee on health in 1996 and 1997, and attempts to arrange a meeting to discuss an appropriate fee had been ignored.
Pillay’s comment that pharmacists were being misled by their professional organisations were an attempt to discredit the Usap, he said.
Pharmacists and the department are in disagreement about laws introduced last year which limit what they may charge for medication and for their dispensing services.
The pharmacists believe the legislated dispensing fees will not cover their costs and will put them out of business, while the department believes the pricing structure is necessary to make medicine more affordable.
While awaiting a Constitutional Court judgment on the matter, many pharmacists are ignoring the department’s fee scales. -Sapa