SOCIAL SECURITY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 January 1942, Page 3

SOCIAL SECURITY

DRUG TARIFF CHANGES IN REGULATIONS. STATEMENT BY MINISTER. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. Changes in the drug tariff, which are to come into force on February 1, were announced yesterday by the Minister of Health, Mr Nordmeyer. The substances or classes of substances that will be accepted as a charge on the social security fund and those that will be excluded are stipulated in the revised tariff. “Some of the substances now included, such as liver products administered by injection, desiccated stomach tissue, and the sulphonamide drugs and their derivatives, may be obtainable only under brand names,” said the Minister, “but they 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 memorandum if there is one applicable. The patient must pay any cost in excess of the price allowed from the fund for the more expensive brands. “In addition to the new drugs specifically mentioned, numbers of others are included by virtue of the extension to the official pharmaceutical publication through alterations which have recently been officially recognised. The tariff also contains details of substances which are not to be made a charge on the fund, the most important of which are the exclusion of food, pharmaceutical requirements not immediately necessary, toilet preparations, and any wine or spirituous liquor of a kind that is commonly sold by persons licensed to sell intoxicating liquors, unless such wine or spirituous liquor is prescribed to be dispensed in combination with other pharmaceutical requirements and comprises not more than 12£ per cent by volume of the resulting mixture. “Where a proprietary substance is ordered for and paid for by the patient, no charge can, under the revised tariff, be made on the fund for container or dispensing fees. Where, however, the cost of the proprietary substance is partly borne by the fund, the dispensing and container fees are also a charge on the fund. The amount of pharmaceutical requirements that may be ordered at the cost of the fund on any one prescription has been amended to provide .that in general only a five days* supply may be ordered, and, if directed, this may be repeated once, not later than 30 days after the date presentation of the prescription,” the

Minister continued. “Contractors should hold these scripts till the second bottle has been supplied to the patient and signed for, or till the 30 days has elapsed. This will obviate the use of repeat dockets. Repeat dockets that have expired should be returned to the medical officer of health. It is a breach of the regulations to obtain more than one signature when the first bottle of medicine is supplied. Each bottle should be signed for when received by the customer, who shquld himself add the date to his signature. , 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.”