WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2004-05-27 Time: 11:07:14 Posted By: Jan
[These socialist laws are irritating the pharmaceutical industry. One major retailer, Clicks, is set to take the government to court. Jan]
Pharmacists are gearing up to take Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang to court over legislation they say will shut down three-quarters of their businesses.
The Pharmaceutical Society is to ask for an urgent hearing at the Johannesburg High Court, said spokesperson Ivan Kotze.
“We tried the communication route and the minister’s response was that we hadn’t provided her with evidence.”
“We can’t wait. We have to initiate this court action immediately,” Kotze said.
‘We have to initiate this court action immediately’
The society recently sent a legal letter to Tshabalala-Msimang objecting to the newly-published regulations of the Medicines and Related Substances Act.
The letter said that the rules governing dispensing fees would cause “extreme hardship” to pharmacists.
It asked the minister to postpone the date for the rules to kick in, which is set at August 2, until pharmacists’ grievances were sorted out.
Tshabalala-Msimang responded to the letter on Wednesday, saying that she would not postpone the date because the pharmacists had not given evidence for their claims.
This would be the second court case the Health Minister is facing over the regulations.
A constitutional case brought by the National Convention on Dispensing, which represents around 8 000 dispensing doctors, will be heard in the Pretoria High Court next Monday and Tuesday.
The Pharmaceutical Society recently said an actuarial study has shown that over 70 percent of pharmacies would have to close.
This study was based on draft regulations, and reportedly showed that these regulations would slash pharmacists’ profits by half.
The final regulations were worse for pharmacists and would force over 75 percent of chemists to close, the Pharmaceutical Society has said.
The regulations allow pharmacists to charge a R26 dispensing fee at most for each drug, and far less for cheap and relatively safe drugs.
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday came out in support of pharmacists.
Chamber director Colin Boyes said that the legislation introduced price control, something that the Chamber opposed in principle because it distorted the market and had many unforeseen consequences.
He said pharmacies were businesses and had to make enough profit to remain viable. The Chamber said that the estimated thousands of messengers employed by chemists, would probably have to be retrenched when the regulations kicked in.
The use of credit cards for payments would probably have to stop, because pharmacists would not be able to afford the five percent charge on each transaction. Pharmacists would also have to charge extra when people run up accounts.
Chemists would have to reduce the stocks of drugs they carry, reduce staff costs and lower their standard of service, predicted the Chamber. There was already negative retail growth in the industry and the new regulations would make things “even worse”.
Retail stalwart and pharmacy newcomer New Clicks filed a lawsuit in Cape Town on Wednesday against Tshabalala-Msimang in protest against the controversial new pricing regulations.
The minister’s spokesperson, Sibani Mngadi, said the department was studying the submission by New Clicks and consulting with its legal unit. “We are examining the nature of the legal action that has been taken and will respond in due course.”
New Clicks group leader Trevor Honneysett said the new regulations were unsustainable and threatened retail pharmacies and the pharmaceutical supply chain. “Retail pharmacy is an important distributor of medicine to the general public. The destruction of this sector would have a serious impact on the provision of medication, particularly in rural areas,” he said.
This article was originally published on page 4 of The Pretoria News on May 27, 2004
Source: Independent Online (IOL)
URL: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=13&ar…/p>