Pharmaceutical Society questions PM’s statement

The Barbados Pharmaceutical Society (BPS) is puzzled at Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s suggestion that Government was not ruling out going the route of capping the cost of medications, insisting that pricing limits have been in place for the past four decades under the Barbados Drug Service (BDS).

In fact, BPS president Yolan Pantin said, pharmacies that participate in the BDS scheme have not benefited from a price increase in those 40 years.

Last Friday, while speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a $12 million urgent care facility at Bayview Hospital, Prime Minister Mottley complained that mark-ups on pharmaceuticals in the country were “prohibitive and unacceptable”.

She said she was hoping for a “voluntary approach” to a “sensible” outcome, but hinted that price controls would not be ruled out.

“I do not like price controls, but I am aware that price controls are also a part of the arsenal that is available to a government with respect to cost. If we can’t reach a sensible discussion and approach through the Ministry of Health and those providers of pharmaceuticals in the country, then the Government will have to determine what appropriate actions it puts in place to protect the average consumer with respect to access to pharmaceuticals and other supplies in the medical area in Barbados,” Mottley said at the time. “We are aware that there are larger countries who do that and therefore we also are aware of the effectiveness in other jurisdictions.”

But Pantin was on Monday adamant that the prices of most medicines which private pharmacists dispense had been capped for the past 40 years.

“We operate under the Barbados Drug Service. About 70 per cent to 75 per cent of what we dispense on a daily basis are Barbados Drug Service items, and Barbados Drug Service items are already capped and have been capped for the past 39 to 40 years…so what capping are we going to do?” she said in an interview with Barbados TODAY.

She also defended the island’s pharmacists, saying they have been making sure everyone who comes to them for medication receives it, “even when we are not paid by the Barbados Drug Service”.

“So, we are always, when we are dealing with the Barbados Drug Service, [operating] at a loss. We do it every day, every month, and we make sure that citizens of Barbados receive their medication. What is the capping that she speaks of? I wish to know,” the BPS president added.

Pantin said concerns about prices normally come from patients who cannot afford to go to the doctor to get a prescription.

“We would try to help them when we can, even though we know we are supposed to have a prescription in our hands. We would try to assist them with maybe a month’s supply of medication to make sure that they don’t fall into any problems being that they are on medication for non-communicable diseases,” she pointed out.

She suggested that the prices of pharmaceuticals to which Prime Minister Mottley might be referring had nothing to do with the retail pharmacies.

“It has to do with the international market…because prices have gone up on the international market…. And what’s going to happen when it goes up on the international market? Just like oil, it’s going to trickle down to us and the prices are going to be increased from our distributors here, and when they come to us the prices have gone up,” Pantin explained.

“We can’t do anything about that. We do not manufacture our own medications in Barbados. We have to bring in everything. Obviously, because of the increase in fuel prices, it’s going to cost more to get the same medications into Barbados. Therefore, prices are going to increase because of the trickle-down effect and we can’t do anything about that because we are the retailers and we have to purchase from the distributors here.”

Pantin also wanted to know when the Government would hold discussions with the pharmacists who participate in the BDS and have not benefited from a price increase in the past four decades.

“We, the private participating pharmacies, haven’t had an increase in 40 years. The cost of living has gone up and the cost of operating a business has gone up in 40 years…but our prices that have been capped for 40 years have not gone up,” Pantin argued.

She contended that it was time for Prime Minister Mottley to meet with distributors and retailers to thrash out any issues surrounding the price of prescription drugs in Barbados.

“I think she should have a discussion with all of us just as she had with supermarkets and the entities that supply the supermarkets. The same discussion should be held with us to see how and where the buck can be stopped so that the prices can remain the same and not increase, because any person running a business would understand that if the prices increase, the prices have to be passed onto the consumer.

“We can’t keep it at the same price because if we keep it at the same price the operating costs will not be covered. And then what will happen? Businesses will close. And what does that do? It puts strain on the National Insurance because when a business closes and they have to reduce their staff count, where do those persons go? They would have to end up back at Government and drain the already drained system,” the head of the pharmaceutical society cautioned.

General Manager of Armstrong Agencies Robert Morris echoed similar sentiments.

He also told Barbados TODAY that the existing price cap on prescription drugs applies to 70 per cent of pharmacies’ medications and 80 per cent of distributors’.

Morris also highlighted the element of medication pricing that would cause the cost to the consumer to increase, but over which they had no control.

“It is the US CIF which is the cost including insurance and freight,” the general manager explained.

Meantime, a top management official at one of the country’s importers and distributors of pharmaceuticals believes the Prime Minister should have met with stakeholders before making her public statement about price controls.

The distributor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, further argued that consumers could pay less for drugs if duties on pharmaceuticals that do not fall under the BDS were reduced.

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb