New Closing the Gap pact
October 29, 2015
the Pharmacy Guild of
Australia and the National
Aboriginal Community
Controlled Health
Organisation (NACCHO) have
co-signed a Joint Position
Paper seeking to improve the
Closing the Gap (CTG) PBS
Co-payment measure.
Originally introduced in
2010, the measure reduces
or removes the patient
co-payment for PBS medicines for
eligible Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander patients living with, or at
risk of, chronic disease.
In the position paper, the
organisations call for a CTGMedicare
link to protect privacy
and improve eligibility, an
expansion of PBS listings to include
more common medicines, inclusion
of dosage administration aids and
better communication for patients
and health professionals around
the CTG copayment.
NACCHO chair Matthew Cooke
(pictured above right with
Guild national president George
Tambassis) said it was important
that everything be done to ensure
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
people have access to appropriate
medicines.
“Chronic diseases are one of the
major reasons we still have a gap in
life expectancy between Aboriginal
and other Australians,” Cooke said.
“Improved access to medicines is
critically important if we are to see
generational change in the health
outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander people.”
Guild national president George
Tambassis said it was pleasing that
more than 258,000 Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander patients were
accessing the more affordable PBS
medicines through the measure
but more could be done to ensure
greater uptake.
“A range of practical
enhancements would assist those
in remote areas to get better
access to the medicines under
the scheme and ensure they have
access to it wherever they fill their
prescriptions.
“We want this vital scheme to be
sufficiently flexible to improve the
health of people wherever they live
and wherever they travel,” he said.
The joint position paper is now
online at www.guild.org.au.
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