Pharmacy Daily | 6CPA a Greek tragedy?

With “no outside competition and strict location rules and trading hours” the recently concluded fiveyear Sixth Community Pharmacy Agreement (6CPA) deal has been likened to the protected pharmacy sector in Greece. A letter to the editor in yesterday’s Financial Review by Dr Quentin Smith of Clapham in South Australia stated that among the conditions for bailout of the Greek debt situation, Greece has had to agree to liberalise a large group of sectors that had previously been well protected, such as bakeries and pharmacies. Smith pointed out the irony of Joe Hockey’s view that the rescue deal with Greece is a “salient lesson in tackling difficult reform early”. A frequent commentator on the politics of doctors and pharmacy, Smith has previously written to the AFR about what he referred to as the pharmacy sector’s “anachronistic, anti-competitive pharmacy ownership and location rules” and their attempt to get “a bite of the Medicare rebate cherry”.

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