Stop the wastage of medication – Prime Minister

Residents of St Vincent and the Grenadines have been called on to stop the wastage of medication, as provision of pharmaceuticals is costing the government too much money.{{more}}

The call was made by Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Dr Ralph Gonsalves as he spoke at the opening ceremony of a new health facility on Bequia.

Gonsalves said he has visited homes around the country, where there are enough drugs in the medicine cabinet to fill a drugstore.

“Now, because I’m a man who goes about the country and naturally, if you are all over, you will have to go into people’s homes,” he said.

But, according to the prime minister, there are two things that he takes notice of when entering someone’s home.

The first he said was poor plumbing.

“In too many homes, I have to lift the bowl and adjust the float or I have to bend down and turn on the tap, because if you keep it on all the time, the water keeps running and because the water is metered, it will bust the budget,” Gonsalves said.

“But the other thing I do when I go to the sink, invariably over the sink is a cabinet and I am invariably nosy enough to open the cabinet.

“But when I open it, you have enough drugs to fill a drugstore – we have to stop that,” he said.

He reasoned that in some instances the doctor may have prescribed too many drugs, but according to the prime minister, what happens is that after being prescribed a set prescription, some persons choose to visit another doctor.

“They go to another doctor some other place, because this doctor gave them blue pills and they talk to Tanty Martha who say, no that doctor…they say he don’t give good tablets; go by the doctor at Cedars, he will give you some pink ones, because my husband had a problem and they gave him a pink one and that solve the problem,” Gonsalves said.

The Prime Minister explained that before, there was no system in place which linked the clinics together to prevent people from beating the system.

“Now there is a medical information system in place,” the Prime Minister said.

And having that in place will regulate the distribution of pharmaceuticals and in turn cut down on the cost of prescription drugs.

“So that, if I go to Colonarie for an ailment and the doctor gives me some tablets and I go into town or Calliaqua, the doctor will be on the computer saying Ralph Gonsalves, yeah, yeah, yeah, but you just went two days ago in Colonarie; what is happening man? The fellow gave you this,” he said.

This system was put in place, the Prime Minister explained, so that the government can save some money.

The Prime Minister said $6.5 million is budgeted annually by the central medical stores for pharmaceutical and medical supplies, which is in addition to what is spent at private drug stores.

“In fact, that’s what we budget, but invariably in November, or early December, the Permanent Secretary, through the minister, sends me a special warrant for $1 to $1.5 million; the numbers just go crazy,” Gonsalves stated. (DD)