Members of the Union of Pharmacists, the Small and Medium Pharmaceutical Importers Association and the Confederation of Independent Trade Union (CITU) are calling on the government to allow pharmacies to give the Covid-19 vaccine to patients.
Meeting the press yesterday at the CITU headquarters in Port Louis, members of the association argue that such a practice existing abroad would ease the burden of the state in this fight.
According to the president of the Union of Phamacists, Mohammad Siddique Khodabaccus, pharmacies in general should also be encouraged to do rapid tests for Covid-19. Talking about the criticisms made by the leader of the opposition, Xavier Luc Duval, about the price of medicines, he had to stress that this is a false debate because health services are free in Mauritius. He was to say that the government should not control the price of medicines in pharmacies because this will lead to the closure of some pharmacies and job losses.
He was to point out that the price of medicines is such in the market because of the rise of foreign currency against the Mauritian rupee. With Covid-19, he said, the cost of transporting medicines to Mauritius has increased and this is reflected in the price of medicines in general.
CITU president Deepak Benydin stressed the need to eliminate the cartel that exists around the importation of medicines in Mauritius.
