How terribley sad. Sad for the thousands of young men and women who took themselves off to university, at their own cost, who worked hard to set themselves up in business and who are now being forced to close because of the South African government and in particular our wonderful Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. This is not the first time that she has been in the centre of havoc (she seems to be hell bent on making and causing as much racous as possible), recently she became the laughing stock of the South African community (and quite possibly the world) with her declaration at the world HIV thingy in Canada that people infected with HIV should eat Beetroot and garlic and lemon juice instead of taking anti retroviral drugs. I have become embarrassed by her and her antics!

I also personally have friends who have already had to close shop after many years of being a pharmacist and owning a business because of the legislation that the government has passed. What a waste of an education, what a loss of a business. In one particular instance this business had in excess of 10 staff members - all of them had to be retrenched and there are now 11 people out of work. Wasn't the idea to grow the economy? Leave it to the Manto's of this world to shut it all down!

What about the rural communities that, thanks to the Manto's of this world, now don't even have a pharmacy in the community? I guess, for her - it's who cares!

Well done Manto! Well done for showing us exactly who you are and the kind of person that you are! Well done Manto, for once again putting in leglislation that will not only harm our economy, but show the rest of the world how we are really just not ready to join the 1st world!

Regards

Nikki

November 22 2006 at 12:27AM

South African pharmacies could face closure due to dispensing regulations coming into effect in January, the United South African Pharmacies (USAP) group said on Tuesday. Speaking at a meeting held at the Glenhove Conference Centre, USAP chairperson Julian Solomon said the new regulations would lead to many pharmacies having to close down. Director of Management Healthcare System, David Boyce, said the department of health's pricing committee did not make provision for inflation. He said the implementation of the regulations would lead to pharmacies not being able to cover their expenses. Under the tariffs announced on October 31, the dispensing fee for medicines with a single exit price (SEP) of R75 would be R4 plus 33 percent of the SEP, while 64 percent of medicines fell under this bracket, Boyce said.

The fee on medicines costing between R75 and R250 would be R25 plus six percent; between R250 and R1 000, R33 plus three percent; and R1 000 and more, R50 plus 1.5 percent. Boyce said that of the 2 467 pharmacies polled, 63 percent would fail, 22 percent were "likely to survive", while 15 percent were at a significant risk of failing. "A casualty rate whereby operating expenses exceeded operational income would occur," Boyce said. Ivan Kotze, executive director of the Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa (PSSA), said the Pharmaceutical Stakeholders Forum held a meeting on Tuesday with the Pricing Committee to discuss resolutions to the regulations.According to Kotze, a letter to Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and director general of health, Thami Mseleku, had been written to "defer" the implementation of the regulations. Solomon added that a minimum of six towns in South Africa were without pharmaceutical services, and that affordability and availability of medication was important. - Sapa