STEPS need to be taken to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 rapid antigen tests (RATs) for patients living in rural communities, Victorian pharmacy owner, Emad Sidhom, believes.
With the rollout of the Federal Government's Concessional RAT program underway, Sidhom, the proprietor of Wedderburn Pharmacy told Pharmacy Daily, that small rural and remote pharmacies' ability to obtain supplies of RATs was being hampered by the program's reliance on free market forces to access supplies.
"It's now a free market thing - who has the money in a very simple way will get more earlier than others," he said.
"[For] small rural pharmacies like us it's very hard to do that... we don't have the same available cash like big pharmacy groups and we will see places like here where people cannot have access to something like these tests because of the current way it is supplied.
"The free market is fine if you're talking about an aftershave... but in the current situation this is probably one of the most - if not the most - important products for health, because according to it people can work, they can study, they can leave home and they can make their loved ones sick."
Sidhom said many rural communities have limited access to PCR testing, making RATs an even more vital tool in managing COVID-19 outbreaks.
"What we're hoping for is some kind of intervention, it shouldn't be left to the market," he said.
"It shouldn't be who can pay will get it first, it should be that those who need it will have it, the same way as with other products.
"One of the things that Government can do - whether it's Federal or State - is act as a guarantor so wholesalers can get quantities without worrying about whether pharmacies are not going to pay, because at the end of the day they will be sold.
"They should be subject to all the restrictions of Community Service Obligation (CSO) Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) supplies, so pharmacies can get quantities not according to willingness to pay upfront, but according to the need of their communities."
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