Medicine prices in South alarm councillors

The huge price differential that apparently exists in the cost of medicines between the Republic and the North was the subject of an emotive debate at Monday's meeting of Cavan County Council, when the promised general election in the early new year generated an extra edge to the proceedings. Fianna Fail councillor Fergal Curtin with his party colleague Cllr. Gerry Murray had the matter listed on the agenda. Cllr. Curtin produced two boxes of Lansoprazole (30mg) one bought in the Republic for €38.6 and the other in the North for €5.99. He instanced other products such as an inhaler that cost €8 in the south and €3 in the North. Cllr. Curtin said that astronomical profits of 600-700% were objectionable and he wanted to know who was making them. “It is unacceptable that people should be ripped off in this manner and I would like a letter to go to the health minister and to the pharmaceutical union; these are only two instances and there are many more,†he said. Seconding the motion, Cllr. Murray said the health minister took on the Irish Pharmacy Union in recent years and it had reduced profit margins considerably. However, a vast number of people still travelled north to purchase medication and for dental requirements. He said a number of friends who were pharmacists assured him that they had reduced profit margins, in some cases letting staff go in order to do so. However, the difference in the price of medication between North and South could not be tolerated. At farming level people from the South were also travelling north to purchase animal medication, sometimes at half the price – the cost savings for farmers were enormous, said Cllr. Murray. Cllr. Aidan Boyle was aware of a man who travelled to the North for his medicine at the time the chemists here were in dispute with the minister and realised that what cost €81 a month here was £18 sterling in the North. He criticised the 50c prescription charge on medical card holders, as it was working out to be punitive on pensioners, who were paying €15-20 a month in prescription charges, which was totally unfair. As a representative for Redhills Cllr. Charlie Boylan said there was a continuous trickle of people to Newtownbutler, Derrylin and Lisnaskea to buy medication – he suggested the north/south price differential in relation to medical products was so great that the pharmacy union here in the south should look at it seriously as it was costing them business. Cllr. Sean McKiernan upped the political tempo of the debate asking if Councillors Curtin and Murray, as members of the major government party, had taken the matter up with the ministers for health or finance. Commenting on Cllr. Charlie Boylan's comment that we may have to revert back to the punt, Cllr. McKiernan said “God bless the euro†as it had exposed the rip off culture in terms of what we pay here as compared to other Eurozone countries. “We are still paying too much for our electricity and a whole range of government inspired charges,†said the Bailieboro Fine Gael councillor, who described charges introduced by the present government as “the dying sting of a waspâ€. Cllr. Andrew Boylan further challenged the proposer and seconder of the motion if they had taken the matter up with Ms Harney and Mr. Lenihan. Verbal exchanges were traded across the floor before the chairman Cllr. Des Boylan restored order. He said that not alone was the consumer being ripped off but so was the Department of Health. A further exchange followed between Cllr. Shane P. O'Reilly and the chairman when Cllr. O'Reilly accused FG Health spokesman Dr. James Reilly for having negotiated the price paid for doctors' medication while he was head of the IMO. FG members rejected Cllr. O'Reilly's claims. Response Responding to Monday's outcry at Cavan County Council on the extent of the disparity in pricing between pharmaceutical products retailed in the North and the Republic, Cian Murtagh, chairman of the Cavan branch of the Pharmaceutical Union of Ireland, claimed that the difference related to a small number of products and was due to the tough line taken by the UK government with the manufacturers involved. Mr. Murtagh said that in the case of Lansopravole the UK government had told the manufacturers, Wyeth, that it would not use the drug in the state funded NHS unless it drastically cut the price of it - and the company caved in to this pressure. The UK with a population of 60 million had much more negotiating power with manufacturers than Ireland with its four million people, said Mr. Murtagh. He pointed out that there had been massive reductions in prices here in recent times with the cost of drugs reducing by 40% this year on top of a 20% drop last year. Further reductions would also come into affect in January, he said, although he pointed out that there would always be a difference in prices between North and South because the UK government had much more clout in terms of the market it had control over.