18 January 2006
The Department of Health is completing the analysis of the data that will
assist in determining a new dispensing fee that can be charged by pharmacists
on medicines in line with the ruling of the Constitutional Court.
The Constitutional Court judgement of 30 September 2005 required the
Minister of Health and the Pricing Committee to review the dispensing fee. The
Pricing Committee invited interested parties to make submissions until 20
December 2005.
Following the closing date (20 December) for submissions and responses to
questionnaires, the Pricing Committee reviewed the submissions and some parties
have been requested to provide additional information to complement their
submissions, where necessary.
As a parallel process, the Department of Health also distributed
questionnaires to all pharmacies in the country requesting specific information
on income and expenditure of pharmacies. The information is important in
determining a fee that ensures viability of the retail pharmacy industry while
meeting the objective of making medicines more affordable to consumers.
Unfortunately, the response from individual retail pharmacies to the
questionnaire was poor.
However, the Department of Health is encouraged by co-operation and
participation of major stakeholders in the retail pharmacy sector in reviewing
the current dispensing fee of 26% up to the maximum of R26. Applicants in the
Constitutional Court case - Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa, New Clicks
and Netcare - as well as other major players in the industry, have made
submissions or provided necessary information to the Pricing Committee.
The Pricing Committee is expected to make recommendation to the Minister on
the revised dispensing fee next month. The Minister will thereafter consider
the proposal and announce a draft dispensing fee that will be open to public
comment. The Minister will only announce the final dispensing fee after
considering public comments on the draft dispensing fee.
Contact
Sibani Mngadi
Cell: 082 772 0161
Charity Bhengu
Cell: 083 679 7424
Issued by: Department of Health
18 January 2006
