Published by Computachem Services

P.O Box 297.
Alstonville. 2477
NSW Australia

Phone:
61 2 66285138

The world becomes a smaller place when it comes to chronic diseases. Renal disease and the need for dialysis is growing annually across the globe, as budgets blow out for expensive medicines.
In Australia questions are being asked on the cost of a nationally funded Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
Some balance needs to be brought into the discussion to ensure the people in real need continue to obtain the benefit, and those who can afford to pay more meet a greater share.
Pharmacists are part of the equation, and can expect to be targeted for examination if not in this year's budget, certainly in the near future.

Fifteen people at the tiny town of Nguiu on Bathurst Island are receiving weekly dialysis for their kidney malfunction. Ten of them are in receipt of this at the island's own dialysis unit, and a further five are in Darwin being introduced to the process.

Three days every week they spend hooked up to a machine to cleanse their bodies.

Remarkable in itself, that the quality of life can be sustained through technology.
This becomes even more remarkable when a transplant becomes available to one of the patients and they are able to lead an almost "normal" life.

The difference between them and us is that they have to take medication for the rest of their lives, to prevent rejection and maintain kidney function.
The concern is that the number of people having to be admitted for dialysis is increasing each year, and this is a world wide trend.

This at a time when the cost of medicines is under close scrutiny, and questions are being asked as to how many and what sort of medicines should be included on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
The cost to a renal transplant patient is likely to be $40 a day after the transplant.
This equates to $280 a week or $15,000 a year.
Compare this with the cost of $500 per session when the patient was on dialysis, and it is not a huge amount.

However with the centre of discussion being on the cost of the PBS, it has to be asked where the line is drawn when it comes to the provision of taxpayer funded medicines.
Should it be for certain clinical indications?
Should it be on the basis of ability to pay?
Should it be restricted to just the "base" priced generic label product?
When the cost goes out of control, and now it is, there has to be a close look at what the PBS is all about.

Is it to provide the transplant patients with the medicines to stay alive, or is it to provide the wealthy lawyer in Melbourne's William Street with a cholesterol lowering medicine.
Pharmacists are not immune to this discussion, and should not rest on their laurels and "wait and see" what the Government decides in the Federal Budget in two weeks time.

Pharmacy is a part of contributing to the cost as are doctors, drug companies and the consumer.
On Bathurst Island the lifestyle is a mix of two cultures, yet of all the remote Aboriginal communities in the north of Australia, the Tiwi people have stronger links to their traditional culture than many others.
They are still an underprivileged group of citizens in Western culture terms and deserve the best available, and yet they still do not have access to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

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