Government proposal could put chemists out of business, Pharmacy Guild claims

A proposal by the Morrison government to let patients collect two months of scripts in a single chemist visit could impact the viability of pharmacies, the guild claims.

In email to members on earlier this week, the Pharmacy Guild’s president George Tambassis said the changes would have “a devastating impact on the viability of community pharmacy businesses” and came “without any consultation”.

Mr Tambassis told Neil Mitchell while he would always support more affordable medicines for patients, this plan could have a wider impact on businesses across Australia.

“When patients can’t afford their medicines, the first people they talk to, is us,” he said.

“All we did, we got wind of this idea that the government was thinking about, we’ve only got scant details about it.

“We haven’t been consulted.

“It could seriously potentially impact the viability of our pharmacies.”

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