Pharmacists warn of chaos as they pull out of drugs scheme

PHARMACISTS are predicting chaos tomorrow when they are scheduled to pull out of the community drugs schemes.

About 900 local pharmacies have warned they will not be filling prescriptions for medical card holders and patients reliant on drug subsidies in their dispute with the Health Service Executive (HSE) over cuts in their reimbursement payments.

Talks between the HSE and the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) continued for a second day yesterday, but had failed to produce a resolution by last night and fears were growing that the withdrawal of services would not be averted.