Milton Wray | Pharmacist shortage, government competition stifling businesses

Pharmacy owner Dave Murphy and his employee John Love were recently arrested and charged by the St Catherine police, in conjunction with the Pharmacy Council of Jamaica, for illegally dispensing pharmaceutical drugs without the presence of a qualified pharmacist, as reported by The Gleaner of November 1.

It is but one real-life consequence of the battles currently bedevilling the retail pharmacy trade, as business people in the sector compete with the government and its agency the National Health Fund (NHF) for both customers and staff.

As the NHF dips into the shallow pool of qualified pharmacists and pharmacy technicians remaining on the island, fishing with baits of irresistible compensation and benefits packages, those in the private retail pharmacy trade are left to scrounge around for workers. It is impossible for the entrepreneurs in the private trade to match NHF salaries to pharmacists amounting to up to $10 million annually. It is the same government and NHF that have whittled away the revenues and profits of private commercial pharmacies by gobbling up their customers with the lure of free goods at its islandwide chain of Drug Serv pharmacies and its schemes setting sub-par prices for goods at peppercorn values.

The upshot of it all is that more and more commercial pharmacies will be forced to illegally turn to unqualified persons to dispense drugs to the public, putting lives at risk. Additionally, to offset the astronomical labour costs that are being driven by the NHF, private pharmacies will have no choice but to substantially increase mark-ups to customers. Thereby, the NHF will accomplish the feat of defeating its very purpose, which is that of making medicinal goods more affordable and accessible to the public.

ECONOMICS 101

It is all economics 101, which seemingly slips the grasps and minds of the technocrats and those pandering to popular public opinion. A panel discussion on the matters, conducted on Monday, November 13 by Radio Jamaica’s Beyond the Headlines, laid bare the raw emotions and sensibilities surrounding the issues. The flood of positive social media commentary toward the NHF reflected the tremendous goodwill enjoyed by the state agency. The NHF is providing needed benefits of medicinal goods to the populace, and that is certainly a public good. The question, however, is whether there is not a way that such a public good can be facilitated without the destruction of for-profit commercial enterprises. The truth is that there are plenty of routes that can be taken to providing welfare medicines without sacrificing modest businesses.

Pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and every worker in Jamaica deserve to be paid handsomely, even on par with persons working in the developed world, where many have emigrated. Unfortunately, compensation, like the prices for goods, is not determined by wishful thinking; it is determined by economic forces.

To add insult to injury, the very same government that is aggressively competing with the private retail pharmacy trade for customers and workers has failed to appoint a pharmacy council, which is the body that would have approved the few recent pharmacist graduates to start practising. The Opposition Spokesman on Health and Wellness, Dr Morais Guy, is reported by The Gleaner of Monday, November 13 to have called on the government to appoint a new pharmacy council to approve the few pharmacist graduates who have been languishing in limbo for months, because of simple administrative negligence.

The moribund Jamaica Association of Private Pharmacy Owners (JAPPO) reported to The Gleaner of Sunday, November 12 that it does not see the NHF and its islandwide chain of Drug Serv pharmacies as a business competitor, notwithstanding the fact that the NHF and its Drug Serv pharmacies have stomped on the once-lucrative trade. It would be quite interesting to ascertain the factors behind JAPPO’s conclusion, except that the mouthpieces happen to be fortunately doing better than the mostly wobbly industry, and wouldn’t mind the elimination of the struggling competition.

It escapes JAPPO and other stakeholders that, if the government is allowed to establish its own chain of pharmacies to give away goods for free, it could also in principle establish its own chain of supermarkets, haberdasheries or hardware stores to distribute free goods, putting entrepreneurs out of business. Many of the very same members of the public singing the praises of the NHF today are no doubt employed in the retail trade, and many obviously do not understand the threats to their jobs and the implications of trampling on the free-market economy structures.

As the NHF would be practically unable to supply the entire population of Jamaica with medicinal goods, it is not only imperative but urgent that even modest private pharmacies are allowed to exist, survive and flourish. Otherwise, as more private pharmacies wilt under the pressures of the competition from the government and the NHF, Jamaicans will be in danger of not being able to access life-saving medicines.

Milton Wray is a communications specialist and pharmacy manager. Send feedback to miltonwray@gmail.com