Pharmacists to stop giving drugs to card holders

PHARMACISTS in Cork are to cease dispensing drugs to medical card holders after December 1.

This will be in protest at the recent decision by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to cut the prices it pays them for drugs they administer under the scheme.

Pharmacists feel they have “been left with no other choice” after the HSE made the decision without consulting the Irish Pharmaceutical Union (IPU) and without carrying out any economic impact assessment into how the decision would affect those in the industry.