Although the Pharmacy of Your Choice (POYC) scheme was launched with much fanfare during a press conference by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi in July, the actual distribution of free medicines will only start at the end of December – and this only in area serviced by the Mosta Health Centre, where a pilot scheme was launched.
Asked whether a target date has been set for the launch of the POYC scheme on a nationwide basis, Health and Community Care Minister Louis Deguara said yesterday: “No target date has been set yet. We would like to launch the scheme as soon as possible. It would have been a huge mistake if we had launched the scheme without having conducted any studies before its launch.”
Until then, the 120,000 patients who are entitled to free medicines under this scheme will still have to go to the central government dispensary at St Luke’s Hospital or at one of the Health Centres in Malta and Gozo to get the prescribed medicines.
Out of more than 200 licensed pharmacies in Malta and Gozo, only nine have not joined the POYC scheme. Deguara explained that some of them will be joining the scheme in the coming days because they had the wrong impression that only General Retailers’ and Traders’ Union (GRTU) members were entitled to join the scheme.
In the Mosta area, which includes Gharghur, Naxxar, St. Paul’s Bay, Xemxija, Mellieha, Mgarr and Mosta, only one out of 24 licensed pharmacies refused to join the POYC scheme as it did not have enough room to stock all the medicines needed to distribute to entitled patients.
To avoid this problem, medicines will be distributed to individual pharmacies at regular intervals to ensure that they do not have excessive stocks. Moreover, medicines will not be pre-packed at the central Government dispensary as originally planned but will be distributed as bulk medicines.
Deguara explained that each pharmacy joining the POYC scheme will have a total of 500 patients on its books, around 60 patients to serve every week, an average of 10 patients a day. “This will mean less queues for patients,” he insisted.
Initially, only those patients who are entitled for free medicines under the Yellow Card, (chronic patients whose prescriptions rarely varies) will be able to collect their free medicines from the POYC.
Those patients who are entitled to free medicines under the Pink Card, who have a choice of up to 160 different medicines in their formulary, will be added at a later stage of the scheme.
Deguara announced that an agreement had been reached with the Union Haddiema Maghqudin (UHM), which represents government pharmacists, for their re-deployment after the introduction of the scheme.
A joint committee made up of the GRTU, the Chamber of Pharmacists, the UHM and the Government is monitoring the implementation of the POYC agreement to verify that the scheme is working as intended.
For patients, the POYC scheme will mean no more eternal queuing at government pharmacies for those vulnerable groups such as the elderly and the disabled, who are more likely to make use of medicines.
Moreover, patients will be better monitored through their regular contact with their habitual pharmacist, ensuring that they take their medicines as prescribed and nothing else.

czahra@mediatoday.com.mt