Should Australia implement supermarket pharmacies?
There is a push this morning for Australian supermarkets to sell prescription medication, but not everyone is sold on that idea.
A report from the Grattan Institute suggests there is limited competition in the pharmacy sector and making these drugs available in supermarkets could be a solution.
Dr Nick Coatsworth spoke with Today. Today
But not everyone is sold on the idea, including Today medical expert, Dr Nick Coatsworth.
“I do have some concerns about that, these are the supermarkets, Coles and Woolies that apparently can’t be trusted to price our milk, but can be trusted to price our drugs,” he said.
“So I think it’s an idea that’s going to be debated over a few days, but it really would lead us down a path of Americanisation of our system I think.”
While there is suggestion making prescription medication available in supermarkets could help with availability in regional parts of Australia, Dr Coatsworth said even if that were the case, these supermarket pharmacies would still need to be operated by a qualified pharmacist.
“Imagine going to your dairy aisle, then going to Liquorland and then picking up your blood pressure tablets... it really is bordering on absurdity, particularly when you talk about rural pharmacies and also the push towards making pharmacies hubs of our health care for vaccination and chronic disease,” he said.
“I was down at Yass, near Canberra, the other day and there’s a Priceline across the road from the chemist, so I think there is competition in the sector and I think some of these claims that there aren’t are probably a little bit overdone.
“And we should really focus on strengthening our community pharmacies rather than looking to dilute them into supermarkets.”
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