Legal absurdity denies Burmarrad residents a pharmacy

The Authority granting licences to pharmacies has refused to issue a licence to a pharmacy in Burmarrad simply because the hamlet is now represented by an elected administrative council instead of a committee appointed by the St Paul’s Bay local council.

The law regulating the issue of pharmacy licences approved in 2007 states that every town and village should have a pharmacy. But the law was approved before the setting up of administrative councils in 2009 and its definition of what constitutes a town or village refers only to places which either have a local council or a committee appointed by the local council.

According to the authority responsible for pharmacy licences, such a definition does not apply to those hamlets, which since 2009 have been administrated by an elected administrative council instead of an appointed committee.

The Authority used this legal justification to deny an application by the owner of a beauty clinic for a pharmacy in Burmarrad, claiming that the hamlet did not qualify as a town or village, according to the terms of the law.

The applicant was told that he was only eligible to be placed on a waiting list of applicants for a new pharmacy in St Paul’s Bay.

Subsequently, the applicant referred her case to the ombudsman.

In his report Ombudsman Joseph Said Pullicino insisted that the law should now apply to hamlets with an elected council.

“It is unfair to claim that these hamlets qualified for a pharmacy when they were run by a committee appointed by the local council and have lost this right when the citizens started electing the committee administrating the locality.”

In July the ombudsman urged the authority to process an application presented by the complainant with urgency. But since the authority failed to do so, the report was presented to parliament.

In September a motion calling on the authorities to heed the ombudsman’s report was proposed by Carmel Hili, a member of Burmarrad’s administrative committee. An amended version of the motion was approved by all members of the administrative committee.

The motion states that the locality is being is being excluded from the pharmacy of your choice scheme and residents have to travel to other towns to buy medicines.

In 2008 residents had already signed a petition demanding a pharmacy in their locality, which was presented to former Health Minister John Dalli three years ago.  The petition was presented again to Health Minister Joseph Cassar in March 2010.

A parliamentary question tabled in June revealed that St Paul’s Bay is the locality with the highest number of pending applications.

While there are 33 applications for new pharmacies in this locality, there are only seven actual pharmacies.

382 applicants are awaiting a permit to open a pharmacy in Malta. This means that applicants outnumber actual pharmacies, which presently number 215.

The law limits the number of pharmacies in each locality to one pharmacy for every 2,500 inhabitants.