FREE DRUG SUPPLIES

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20660, 10 January 1942, Page 7

FREE DRUG SUPPLIES

CHANGES IN SCHEDULE OPERATE ON FEB. 1 (Per Press Association.).. WELLINGTON, this day. Important alterations . covering the free provision of drugs were aninounced by the Minister of Health, the Hon. R. H. Nordmeyer. They will come into force qn February 1. The new tariff sets out in some detail the. substance or classes;-of- substances that are to be accepted as a charge on the—secial security fund and those ,-tha,t.rarp .excluded. , Some of the substances now included,...such as liver products administered by injection', desslcated stomach tissue and sulphonamide drugs and their derivatives, may be obtainable only under brand, but may nevertheless be supplied wholly or in part at the cost of the fund provided they comply with a standard not lower than that described in the official monograph if there is one applicable. In the case of more expensive brands, the patient must pay any cost in excess of the price allowed from the fund. The amounts of the pharmaceutical requirement that may be ordered at the cost of the fund on any one prescription has been amended to provide that, in general, only five days’, supply may be ordered and, if directed, this may be repeated once not later than 30 days after the date of the presentation of the prescription. To provide for the requirements of patients suffering from chronic conditions, a medical practitioner may order at the cost of the fund a supply sufficient for not more than 30 days’ treatment which may be supplied in the manner most convenient, but in the case of sulphonamide group, five days’ supply only may be given in one prescription.