Ireland tops OECD drugs bill poll

IRELAND has the fastest growing medicines bill of all the 29 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Irish patients increased the amount they spend on drugs by 12.8% each year from 1998 to 2003, according to latest figures from the OECD.

Fine Gael has said these figures show the need to increase our usage of generic or non-branded drugs as they claim we are too reliant on expensive branded medicine.