Government ‘not considering bulk-buying’ for medicines

The government has accused Opposition leader Joseph Muscat of fabricating claims that it will resort to bulk-buying medicines and remove companies and importers from the system of drug purchasing.

Parliamentary Secretary Chris Said yesterday said that it was untrue that the government was considering bulk-buying.

“In fact it was Muscat himself who had proposed the system of bulk-buying on essential services and products. Muscat is forgetting that bulk-buying is discounted practice that had been introduced by the Labour government.”

Said that government wanted medicine prices to be cheaper, and that the secretariat for fair competition was working to see prices decrease to an acceptable level.

“Our interest is that the consumer is safeguarded, and we are ready to create the necessary mechanisms that will establish mandatory prices for medicines,” Said said.

The government is expecting to hold discussions with all stakeholders involved to achieve a solution to the issue of medicine prices