Barrhead pharmacist Rita Lyster and her staff will be donning white coats when they join a budget protest march on the Alberta Legislature on Thursday.
Lyster, one of the town’s two independent pharmacists, has chartered a bus to take fellow protesters to Edmonton.
“Pharmacists, patients or anybody from the public are welcome to join us,” she said yesterday. “The bus can fit 54 people.”
Barrhead &District Co-op pharmacy will be sending at least one representative.
“We are very concerned about the budget’s impact on businesses in town and the province,” said pharmacy manager Deb Mustard yesterday.
Other Barrhead pharmacies, including Fyfe’s and IGA, have added their voices to the budget criticism without committing to the protest march.
Nobody at Rexall’s was available for comment yesterday.
The march starts at 11:15 a.m. The bus will leave Lyster’s Main Street Apothecary at 9:15 a.m.
The 2013 provincial budget is proving a bitter pill for pharmacists throughout Alberta, who say cutbacks will hit their bottom line, leading to possible layoffs, reduced working hours and poorer service. They argue it means that services once provided free of charge will now require payment.
The budget reduces generic drug prices from 35 per cent to 18 per cent of brand name drug prices, effective May 1. Over the past two years, prices have been reduced from 75 per cent to 35 per cent.
Generic drug pricing is tied to pharmacy funding. Drug companies send rebates to pharmacists when a particular generic drug is sold, and so lower prices means lower rebates.
The Alberta Pharmacists’ Association (RxA) and community pharmacists say they are taken aback by such a dramatic decrease introduced without consultation.
RxA says it supports affordable drugs for Albertans and had backed previous decisions to lower prices. However, historically decreases occurred in a controlled fashion, allowing pharmacies to make necessary adjustments, the association says.
It adds that traditionally, the revenue earned through generic drugs by pharmacies has offset the chronic underfunding of pharmacy services by government. This is significant as pharmacy fees have been unchanged since 2005 and have only increased $0.52 since 1991.
In Barrhead, pharmacists like Lyster have been raising petitions, calling on government to implement policy that will ensure that the access to and quality of the services currently provided by pharmacists are preserved.
They are also inviting people to express their concerns to Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock MLA Maureen Kubinec.
A leading voice behind the march is Kit Poon, a member of the board of PharmaChoice and pharmacist in Stony Plain,
In a letter to pharmacists, Poon said the march was designed to spotlight concerns in a peaceful way.
“Our message will be first and foremost about respect,” he said. “The government needs to understand that if they are going to be unilaterally affecting pharmacists’ ability to care for patients, that they must have a thorough understanding and meaningful dialogue with our professional association.”
Poon said the budget announcement was poorly communicated and the impact on pharmacists was not fully understood by government before decisions were made.
He added that fresh ideas would be presented to Minister of Alberta Health and Wellness Fred Horne and Finance Minister Doug Horner. There will also be a request for them to return to the table.
“Let’s show this government what happens when pharmacists of Alberta unite,” he said.
Collin Grant, owner of Fyfe’s Friendly Pharmacy, said work commitments would prevent him joining the march, but he shared concerns about the budget and how it would affect patient care.
“I don’t like the way the procedure went down,” he said.
Grant said the budget had huge implications for rural Alberta, and he could see some businesses folding.
At Fyfe’s, the town’s other independent pharmacist, it would mean adjustment of wages, he added.
Gerald White, manager of the IGA pharmacy, also saw a big impact on services, with payments being required for services formerly provided for free.
Anyone wishing to go on the protest march should ring Lyster at 780-674-6656.
