The Pharmacy of Your Choice Scheme is not achieving the main aims it was set up for because the government has no policy or plan, Labour MP Marie Louise Coleiro Preca said. Not only had the government fallen back on the promise it had made, to have the POYC scheme operating through Malta and Gozo by 2010, but now that work has started to take it to the rest of the country, no review has been made to eliminate the system’s shortcomings, she said.
The system was intended to make it easier for patients to get their medicines but instead they are still going round in circles to find the medicines they need, and going to health centres and Mater Dei Hospital. The system is over-bureaucratic, Dr Coleiro Preca said.
Patients also faced the continuing problem of medicines which are out of stock, causing them to search for the medicines at different pharmacies and costing them dearly.
Government reply
Dr Coleiro Preca’s statement was contradicted by the department of the POYC, which said that the scheme was launched as a pilot project in December, 2007 and gained popularity immediately.
It was felt that its extension should be suspended and evaluated and between 2008-10 a restructuring plan was implemented so that the scheme would be distributed throughout the country within two years. Last December saw the last extension being made in the remaining 11 localities, the department said.
To date 87,877 patients are benefiting from the POYC scheme, using 160 pharmacies in the community. More patients and pharmacies will be added in the coming weeks, with the numbers reaching 120,000 patients and 204 pharmacies.
Medicines worth over €44 million have been distributed by the scheme since 2007, the department said, adding that in the past two years it had received several local and international honours for the scheme’s management, including the ISO 901:2008 Certificate. The auditor general had described the POYC and the department’s systems as most professional.
The POYC Department ensures the best use of government medicine stocks, to reduce waste and to see that patients are served.