Doctors Hospital keeps pharmacy doors open
Clergyman calls move “appalling beyond words”
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Bahamas Pharmaceutical Association President Shantia McBride said that members were advised to close their doors yesterday to avoid running afoul of the law, having not been able to implement the Price Control Amendments in time.
McBride along with several members of the association waited outside the Office of the Prime Minister yesterday in an effort to have a meeting with Prime Minister Philip Davis on the matter.
Members of the association said that they were awaiting a response from the government to their recommendations and were disappointed about the lack of consultation on the process. Eyewitness News understands that the government will meet with the association today.
“We did close our doors so as not to be in breach of the amendment,” said McBride.
“When we met with Minister Halkits we were under the impression that consultation would begin. Two days later he came back and said the government is enforcing the amendment November 1. At that time our recommendation hadn’t reached the government yet.”
She added: “Out of respect we are asking for a meeting and a response to our recommendations as there hasn’t been a response even to say that they have received it. We are asking the public to understand that we are not closing out of greed or malice.”
According to the association, the new regulations impose price-controlled mark-ups ranging from 15 percent to 18 percent on pharmaceutical wholesalers and 35 percent to 40 percent for retailers.
McBride said that pharmacies can not afford to incur fines and if the government forges ahead with its mark-ups businesses, smaller pharmacies may be forced to close.
She continued: “Even if those margins stay for three months, some of our small pharmacies may close. We can have that for big or small pharmacies. For a small pharmacy that could be two jobs lost; for a bigger pharmacy that’s 10 or twenty and a wholesaler much more.”
She further noted that pharmacies already participate in the National Prescription Drug Plan, under which they have endured an even smaller profit margin.
She noted that one of the association’s key recommendations is for the government to remove Value-Added Tax (VAT) from medicine which would help lower prices, particularly at the wholesale level.
Despite the actions of the Bahamas Pharmaceutical Association, Doctors Hospital said in a notice that it stands in compliance with the November 1 price control measures implemented by The Government and remains open to provide pharmacy services to patients and the public at large.
“Surge management plans have been activated to ensure urgent medications are not excessively delayed as we respond to higher anticipated demand. We remain in close communication with the Bahamas Pharmaceutical Association, as appropriate,” Doctors Hospital said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the Bain Grants Town Clergy Association yesterday condemned the temporary shutdown as “appalling beyond words”.
Rev C B Moss said: “…these seemingly heartless people are prepared to use the public as pawns and place their health, as well as their lives, on the altar of economic expediency. They should have remained open until an agreement was reached, or the government took action against them.”
“We are hereby demanding that this ill-advised decision be rescinded immediatelv. If it is allowed to stand then we advise the public to identify stores that remained open and patronize them; never again going near those who chose a few dollars over our lives.”
