Chemist Warehouse director Mario Tascone said that while pharmacists support the idea of doubling drug volumes on single prescriptions, it has to happen over time, rather than “overnight” to reduce the risk of a drug shortage.
Doctors are pushing for the change to help relieve the pressure on general practitioners.
“We’re not saying no to double dispensing, but we need about two or three years to build up the levels,” Tascone told the Today Show.
“We’re all for doctors prescribing a 12-month supply of the medicine, as long as its done one month as a time when it’s dispensed because doing a double lot of dispensing each time will cause shortages, I have no doubt.”
“They’re the type of medicines you never want to run out of in a pharmacy people need them every day.”
Shortages would include drugs like anti-depressants and medication used for lowering cholesterol.
The warning from Tascone comes after doctor’s groups lobbied ahead of the May federal budget to change dispensing and prescribing rules, which would double the number of drugs dispersed in each prescription and extend the prescription period.
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The suggested changes also propose lower caps on medicine payments, to make them more affordable.
While Tascone said the change “could work well” if implemented slowly, but it would cause havoc if introduced too fast.
“It’s a very delicate logistic exercise to get medicines from one side of the world into Australia, it’s very tightly managed,” Tascone said.
“Just one little bump like doubling the supply of medicine overnight will cause substantial damage to supply chains.”
“You’d run out of medicines pretty quick,” he said in another interview with 3AW radio.
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