HSE says 69 Galway chemists will ignore dispute

Date Published: 31-Jul-2009

THE Health Service Executive (HSE) has no plans to set up special contingency drugs dispensaries in Galway to fill the gap that could be left when scores of pharmacies in the county withdraw from the State Drugs Schemes this Saturday.

But the HSE has moved to clarify confusion surrounding the exact number of Galway pharmacies it says will remain open to recipients of drugs under the Medical Card and other State Drugs Schemes – it maintains 69 pharmacies will continue operating the schemes throughout Galway.

With the August 1 deadline looming for the boycott of drug-dispensing services by more than 60 pharmacies throughout Galway, there is still uncertainty as to the exact pharmacies which have withdrawn from the scheme.

The HSE issued a list of 75 Galway pharmacies on Tuesday it maintained will continue to dispense medicines to patients and clients under the Medical Card and other State Drugs Schemes.

In an advertisement in today’s Galway City Tribune the HSE has issued a newrevised list of 69 pharmacies it says will continue as normal, after pharmacists claimed Tuesday’s original list contained “grossly inaccurate” information.

The HSE said the revised list in today’s paper is accurate at the time of going to press but added it could change and will be edited and updated daily.

The Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU), however, says the new list is not accurate and still even contains a pharmacy in Galway that closed three months ago.

It says…