A Rondebosch pharmacist, at the end of his tether over new dispensing fees that he says will leave pharmacists insolvent, faces the tough choice of quitting after 16 years.
Rustenburg Pharmacy's Waheed Abdurahman slates Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang for "demonising" his profession as "rip-off merchants" and "fat cats".
Sham Moodley and Ivan Kotze, co-ordinators of the Pharmacy Stakeholders Forum, met Health Director General Thami Mseleku and members of the Secretariat to the Pricing Committee on Friday, to discuss the potential impact on pharmacists of the new dispensing fee.
The new fee, after years of controversy, was published in the Government Gazette on December 1. They will come into effect in January 2007.
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The forum is adamant that the new fees will "precipitate a crisis in pharmacies", impacting on the pharmacists and their employees and also compromise client's access to medicines because pharmacies will be forced to close.
Abdurahman is one pharmacist facing that threat.
Mseleku is expected to return to the Stakeholders Forum by Wednesday with a response to its request for the new fee implementation date to be put on hold.
At the meeting, said Kotze, the forum had pointed out the difference between the pricing committee's theoretical calculation of costs, and the actual costs incurred by pharmacists.
Mseleku has undertaken to present this to Tshabalala-Msimang, who he said would make a decision as soon as possible.
In an open letter to the cabinet, Abdurahman writes that Tshabalala-Msimang is "deliberately destroying the retail pharmacy sector".
He says the department should consult ministers Trevor Manuel and Alec Erwin to arrive at a pricing structure that would keep pharmacies viable.
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This article was originally published on page 7 of Cape Argus on December 11, 2006
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