‘Profit the only motive for online drug stores’

FAMILY doctors are gravely concerned about the threat posed by internet pharmacies. They are shocked that more people seem to be diagnosing their illnesses and going online to buy the medicine to fit.

Dr Ronan Boland, vice-chairman of the Irish Medical Organisation’s (IMO) family doctors committee, wants patients to leave the job of prescribing medicines to the professionals.

“The decision to prescribe any medicine - for which people spend years training as doctors - is partly about developing a holistic approach to treating a patient. You make decisions in the context of knowing the person, their other problems, their other medication and other factors.”