Instead of publicly vilifying them, Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley should have first talked with pharmacists, says president of the Barbados Pharmaceutical Society (BPS), Yolan Pantin.
In responding to Mottley’s threat last Friday to cap the prices on pharmaceuticals, Pantin insisted that, through the Barbados Drug Service, there were already price controls.
She said there were layers to the issue of pharmaceutical prices and a discussion with pharmacists would have made Mottley privy to them.
She found support from consultant pharmacist at Lewis Drug Mart and president of the Barbados Association of Pharmacy Owners, David Lewis, who said the pressure from international organisations may be behind the price cap threat.
“The majority of pharmaceuticals we dispense – 70 to 75 per cent – are under the Barbados Drug Service, where they are already under price control. This has been the case for the past 40 years, so I don’t know what more price controls she is looking at,” Pantin said, adding Barbados had some of the best pharmaceutical prices in the world.
