DISCOUNT pharmacy group, Chemist Warehouse, will "hold the moral authority" over the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA), while the organisation continues to support the Pharmacy Guild of Australia and the sale of "pseudo-science", according to Australian Medical Association (AMA) WA President, Dr Andrew Miller.
Commenting on a social media post by PSA Interim CEO, Dr Shane Jackson rejecting the AMA's push for GPs to be allowed to own pharmacies, Dr Miller hit out at the pharmacy ownership laws.
"Until you drop support for [the] Guild and for selling pseudo science you betray pharmacy grads and patients - the 90% [of] non-owners and Chemist Warehouse hold the moral authority," he said.
When challenged on the AMA's routine attacks on Chemist Warehouse's business model, Miller said, "I don't like their sales of nonsense... but in regard to calling out location and ownership rules it is ironic that Chemist Warehouse says nothing we disagree with".
Responding to Miller's tweets, PSA South Australia/Northern Territory Branch Vice President, Samuel Keitannpaa, questioned whether the two groups were genuinely aligned on pharmacy ownership.
"They [Chemist Warehouse] want deregulation of total number and ownership rules so they can use their loss-leading, high volume of sales focused strategy to force the closure of other stores and become a monopoly," he said.
"So their goals align with yours on this?"
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