Regional pharmacists are worried the federal government's latest move to make prescription medications cheaper will lead to overdoses, supply chain shortages and cut staff numbers at smaller chemists.
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Federal Health Minister Mark Butler announced on Wednesday that as of September 1, millions of Australians will be able to access two months of medicine for the cost of one prescription.
"Every year, nearly a million Australians are forced to delay or go without a medicine that their doctor has told them is necessary for their health," Mr Butler said.
"This cheaper medicines policy is safe, good for Australians' hip pockets and most importantly good for their health."
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Doctors will have the option to prescribe 60 days worth of prescription drugs from a list of 320 medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).
The dispensing limit for prescription medications is currently one month. The changes would mean, for example, that instead of paying $30 every month, patients would only have to pay $30 for two months worth of PBS-listed drugs.
The medications are expected to help with conditions such as cholesterol, hypertension, Crohn's disease and heart disease.
However, New England pharmacist Greg Willday said the scheme would lead to overdoses, as people would have access to a bigger batch of prescription drugs, leading to dosage confusion especially among the elderly and very young.
"It's contradictory," Mr Willday, owner of Good Price Pharmacy in Armidale, said.
"We're going to see increased hospital admissions from medication misadventure and overdoses because of it. It's just going to put the burden somewhere else."
Mr Willday said the move would also lead to supply chain shortages as people hoard medications at home, leaving less availability for those needing regular prescriptions.
Already, there are about 400 medications currently listed on the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) as being in short supply and another 74 are in anticipation of being in short supply.
And smaller pharmacies, especially in rural areas, could have no other choice but to cut staff, decrease operating hours or charge for putting pills in webster packs due to the dispensing fee that is included in the prescription cost each time a patient orders medication, he said.
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