Office of the Official Opposition
For Immediate Release

 
St. John’s, NL (April 16, 2020) – PC Opposition Health critic Dave Brazil is urging the provincial government and the Newfoundland and Labrador Pharmacy Board to work together to lower dispensing fees that for some patients have tripled since the Board directed pharmacists to limit medication supplies to just 30 days rather than the previous 90.

Brazil wrote to the Pharmacy Board on Tuesday on behalf of the Official Opposition, seeking relief for patients.

But he is also calling on the province to step up to ensure these extra dispensing fees are not passed on to patients.

“If the province and the Board work together, they can find a way to relieve patients of this added burden.”

Brazil said, “We understand the Pharmacy Board is limiting medication supplies to ensure all patients will continue to have access to medicine if supply lines are interrupted for a period of time during the pandemic, but it’s unfair to make patients bear the burden of that decision by paying triple the dispensing fees if they now have to visit their pharmacists once a month instead of once every three months.”

“Some patients will have these extra costs covered by the province’s drug plan, but many others will have to pay out of their own pockets when they are already struggling,” he said. “This is not a time to place additional cost burdens on the backs of the sick. The province and the Pharmacy Board have to find a solution quickly, because patients are already being impacted and suffering.”

Contacts:

Bradley Russell

Director of Policy and Research

(p) 1.709.729.3668

BradleyRussell@gov.nl.ca

-30-