THE INEQUITY OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF PHARMACY BUSINESSES
IN AUSTRALIA
Quote from Letter to
Editor of the Australian Financial Review (14 November 2013) from Greg Turnbull of The Pharmacy
Guild of Australia:
The provision of quality dispensing of PBS
medicines at around 5300 pharmacies evenly distributed across Australia is an essential
health service for Australian consumers, appropriately subsidised by
government since 1948.
This was posted in a
rebuttal of the article by Paul Howes in the Financial Review on 13th
November 2013
So what? – Just another
bun fight between the Pharmacy Guild and a critic of the current Australian
retail pharmacy industry. “Nothing new about that” one could say.
Yes BUT there are aspects
of the quote that need comment when looking at the provision of pharmacy
services to ALL Australians.
There is one group that is
left out of the assumption that the pharmacies in Australia are evenly distributed throughout the Nation.
There are 53,000
Aboriginal people living in remote communities in the Northern Territory who would not know what a “pharmacist” is let
alone what a pharmacy business looked like.
The reference to quality dispensing of PBS medicines is a joke with no pharmacist in sight at the point of dispensing and
supply to the patient – unlike every other Australian who, thanks to the PBS
money, has a pharmacist available at the point of supply everywhere a PBS
medicines is supplied.
And as for this being an essential health service for Australian consumers well “yes” maybe but NOT if you are an Aboriginal
person living in one of the 100 remote communities in the Northern Territory.
It is time the Pharmacy Guild
took its head out of the sand and started to look around for ways its beloved
“service” can be improved for these Australians with the worst health status in
the land and who would not know why their prescribed medicines will work let
alone why they should take them.
Adherence is a problem and
none more so than amongst remote living Aboriginal Australians.
One
more thing – the statement that the PBS has been appropriately subsidized by government since 1948 is wrong for remote living Aboriginal people –
it was not until the year 2000 that this occurred for these people through the
special arrangements made possible using Section 100 of the National Health
Act.
Any pharmacist
interested in investing in a pharmacy business and any one of the 20 remote
“growth towns” in the NT should contact the writer at rollom@iinet.net.au or on 08 8991 8457 or
0411 049 872.
A Prospectus is to
be produced to assist future investors with their decisions.
