50c prescription charge supported
PA Wellington The chairman of the New Zealand Medical Association, Dr Jeremy Hopkins, has given his qualified backing to a 50c charge on prescriptions. Dr Hopkins was comment- : ing on a suggestion by the i Minister of Health (Mr Malcolm) who said the proposal < could save $46 million a I year. . i Dr Hopkins said doctors 1 would support the scheme as I long as it was part of a ; wider pattern "aimed at : shifting the emphasis of < health away from the public 1 hospital sector." ■ 1
He said the charge would not reduce the number of prescriptions; experience overseas showed that this did not happen. “Essentially, it must simply be seen as a way of raising money for the Government,” said Dr Hopkins. . In other reaction to health cuts, the president of the P.S.A., Mr D. H. Thorp, said the continued cuts in public health had not been reflected in Government cuts to private hospitals. Referring to staffing levels in psychiatric and psychopaedic hospitals. Mr Thorp said cuts would hit hardest at these hospitals.
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Press, 9 March 1982, Page 17
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17950c prescription charge supported Press, 9 March 1982, Page 17
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