Health minister accuses pharmacists’ lobby of ‘dishonest scare campaign’ on medicine shortages in Australia

1 year ago 82

Mark Butler says group is ‘deliberately misleading consumers’ and a phased rollout of the scheme will avert a surge in demand

Australia’s pharmacy lobby is “deliberately misleading consumers with a dishonest scare campaign” by claiming 133 strengths and combinations of medicines are in short supply, a spokesperson for the health minister, Mark Butler, has said.

In response to reforms that will see patients with certain stable but chronic conditions able to buy 60 days’ worth of medicine on a single prescription instead of 30 days, the Pharmacy Guild said 17% of the 325 eligible medicines had shortages. The guild says while some medicines might be widely available in certain strengths, other dosages of the same medicines are scarce, affecting 133 medicines.

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