DÁIL REPORT:MINISTER FOR Health Mary Harney has told the Dáil that if patients are put at risk of not receiving medication in the row between the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Irish Pharmaceutical Union (IPU), "it will be because of the game between the two sides. There is no other reason for it to happen".
Speaking during a series of statements in the Dáil in advance of disputed new dispensing fee arrangements for pharmacists coming into place tomorrow, Ms Harney said she was "anxious to ensure no patient is put at risk of not receiving medication".
She said she understood that "two pharmacies in the entire country have said they will not dispense to the medical card patients on Saturday".
The HSE had reassured her that "if there is any patient on Saturday, Sunday, Monday or Tuesday who cannot get access to their medication the HSE will ensure they get that medication".
The Minister said she could not "justify paying €100 million more to distribute products than other European countries would".
She insisted that pharmacists would not be charged more than what they got from the HSE.
"Any pharmacist who is charged more at the end of the month should contact the HSE and the manufacturers and that will be sorted out. Of that I am certain."
Fine Gael health spokesman Dr James Reilly accused the Minister of acting unilaterally to implement the fee changes "and then have a report.
"What faith can people have in such a process? The Minister is putting the cart before the horse and prejudging the outcome."
He pointed to the Indecon report commissioned by the Government which said that no sudden changes should take place. "Nobody would consider going from 17 per cent to 8 per cent, a 50 per cent drop, as not sudden."
Labour spokeswoman Jan O'Sullivan appealed to the Minister to "listen to the voices of the majority of members of the Government parties and to the voice of reason, and not listen to her own political ideology and the bullying tactics of the HSE".
Ms O'Sullivan said it was "disingenuous of the Minister to suggest, first, that to have this amount of money taken from the income of any sector of society would not make a huge difference and, second, that, somehow, it is being taken from the wholesalers. It is not being taken from the wholesalers; it is being taken from pharmacists".
Sinn Féin spokesman Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said the single most aggravating factor in the dispute was that the HSE could not negotiate financial issues with the IPU because of the Competition Act.
He told the Minister "you clearly have a closed mind and a cold heart where health equality is concerned".
Charlie O'Connor (FF, Dublin South-West), expressing the concern of Government backbenchers,said constituents "want access not only to the medicines they require but to the care and attention given to them by their pharmacists.
"That is why I do not want to go to Tesco to buy the few tablets I need. I want to go to my local pharmacist."
