“There’s got to be a better way to deal with this than destroying an entire industry,” said Tim Brady, vice-president of the Essex County Pharmacists’ Association. “We, as a profession, want to be there for people and be able to help them. But we have to pay the bills at the end of the day.” Brady said many pharmacy employees in Windsor-Essex are now worried about their jobs.
But Eng said consumers should not “fall for threats of the local pharmacy shutting down,” pointing out that the government plans to compensate pharmacists by increasing dispensing fees under the ODB and paying for the extra services they provide to patients.
“If these threats come back to (consumers), they should report it to the Ministry of Health and let us know about it,” Eng said. “It’s important for people to know that all this will have a net benefit to consumers … and they can look forward to the positive outcomes.”
Keywords: drugs, pharmacy, pricing
