Pharmacists warn of medicine shortages

PROTESTING pharmacists have warned of widespread medicine shortages and dispensing delays from tomorrow with hundreds of chemists either remaining closed or refusing to dispense medicines under the community drugs schemes.

President of the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU), Liz Hoctor, claimed contingency plans by the Health Service Executive (HSE) had failed miserably and the number of pharmacies who had withdrawn from the schemes since Saturday was far in excess of what the health authority was stating.

Ms Hoctor said up to 800 pharmacies had either stopped dispensing medicine or had closed indefinitely and that the protest was much wider than anticipated. But the HSE has claimed that more than 1,100 were still operating.