Big money vs ten-days

THE EDITOR: Recently Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh was reported as saying that it costs the Government about $1 billion annually to purchase pharmaceuticals for the public health system.

In the Express of October 20, the Private Pharmacy Retail Business Association said one of its goals is regulations by the Fair Trade Commission to prevent monopolies by distributors.

Such regulations are vitally needed as the health system will be at the mercy of a monopoly that can set exorbitant prices, as this matter is not being addressed, as far as I am aware.

The situation is even more insidious because one company – that seems to have political connections at high levels of government – has bought out some of its competitors.

The sad thing is that competition in the sector could have been much more robust but for the failings of the politicians. They could have instituted measures that would have facilitated the entry of retail pharmacies into the distribution sector if the pharmacists so wished.

When I was growing up in Belmont there were several pharmacies owned by people of African descent. But pharmaceutical distributorship was in the hands of the upper-class elite. It is still in the hands of their successors.

In TT it seems some are deemed deserving of multimillion-dollar contracts while others are given a ten-days.

ARTHUR NURSE

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