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Karl Schembri
Government may have to resort to price orders on pharmaceuticals unless an impasse on the medicines price-monitoring committee keeps stalling the price revision exercise launched last year, government sources say.
The impasse was created after members of the committee objected to the presence of GRTU representative Mario Debono, who is under police investigation over counterfeit medicines. Debono, who represents pharmacy owners and is also GRTU vice-president, is being contested by the Chamber of Commerce as well as by the pharmaceutical research representatives.
The GRTU however is staunchly defending its representative and insisting on keeping Debono on the committee, resulting in a standstill of price control negotiations.
While government is leaving it up to the GRTU to decide on its representatives without going into the merits of whether individual members should be on the committee, the government representatives have made it clear that unless all parties finalise the price revision exercise, the authorities will proceed unilaterally and if necessary impose price orders to counter the effects of skyrocketing medicine prices.
“In the last meeting last week, the committee members were informed that unless they agree to finalise this exercise immediately, government will go on its own and if necessary issue price orders,” a government source said. “Government is extremely disappointed by this impasse but it will not let things get stalled at this stage.” |
