TASMANIAN pharmacy owners met Labor Senator Anne Urquhart in Ulverstone this week, to explain the impacts of the Govt's move to 60-day dispensing.
Pharmacy Guild of Australia Tasmanian President, Helen O'Byrne said, "our members at the meeting raised genuine concerns.
"We have an owner in Railton who has now put her plans to build a new pharmacy, with space to provide vaccinations, on hold".
"Another member has just purchased a share in a local pharmacy where she has worked for a number of years, based on a valuation that reflects the current profitability, and is now worried that she will not be able to service her debt due to the impacts of this policy," shared O'Byrne.
Confidence in the sector is also worrying students enrolled into the Bachelor of Pharmacy degree available on the Cradle Coast for the first time, with four students now deciding to take up other options.
O'Byrne said that this is saddening given that after years of advocating for place-based tertiary courses in health, the Pharmacy degree has finally been offered both in Burnie and Launceston.
"The Federal Government did not include pharmacists in any consultations prior to introducing this new policy - giving no consideration to the people on the ground, the pharmacy owners, who truly understand how the current dispensing fees help to cross-subsidise many services which patients currently receive for free, such as deliveries of medicines."
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