LEGISLATION aimed at boosting pharmacists' abilities to substitute prescribed medications is gaining support from both sides of politics.
Australian Labor Party Deputy Manager of Opposition Business, Mark Butler, voiced support for the Therapeutic Goods Amendment (2020 Measures No 2) Bill 2020, during yesterday's sitting at the House of Representatives.
"Members of this House will have heard story after story, for some years before COVID, of medicine shortages in Australia," he said.
"Under the existing legislative regime, pharmacists are able to substitute a different brand of the same medicine when the brand that has been prescribed by the prescribing doctor is not available or is in short supply.
"This bill will allow pharmacists to supply not only a different brand of the same medicine or the same therapy but a different therapy altogether.
"They won't have carte blanche to do this under this legislation.
"The Secretary of the Department [of Health] will have the ability to prescribe a particular type of medicine that can be substituted---it's not carte blanche; it will be a particular type---and pharmacists will be able to do that.
"This is important when a patient needs a particular therapy and that brand's not available, and a different brand of the same therapy is not available, and the prescribing doctor is not available to issue a new prescription.
"So there are circumstances where this is important for quality of care."
Butler noted that members of the "medical community" had expressed concerns over the legislation, but added that "in their current form, we think these provisions are worthy of support, and we will be supporting them."
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