CHEMISTS’ HOURS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2996, 16 August 1911, Page 38

CHEMISTS’ HOURS.

NO MEDICINES AT NIGHT. LtTiOM ODll -VN CoaIiESPONUEST.) CHRISTCHURCH, August 11. It is a general belief that medicine in case of urgency can be obtained from chemists at any time during the course ; of the 24-hour day. A case that has recently arisen must shatter that belief. : On Thursday night the wife of a prqI rainent resident of Christchurch was seri- ■ ously ill, and the doctor in attendance depcided that a certain medicine must be | obtained for her without delay. At 10.30 i the doctor and the husband went in a motor car to a chemist’s shop to obtain ; the preparation, but though they rang the j night bell for some considerable time they met with no response. They went to ; another chemist’s shop, and here the same ; result met them. They went to another, and then another —-finally seven shops I altogether, and in not once case did anyone answer. Mattel’s were now looking serious. Fortunately at this stage the doctor remembered that a fellow member of the medical -fraternity possessed the medicine, and going to the latter’s residence they obtained it. j Speaking to a Press reporter bn the matter, the gentleman said it was quite possible that during the delay his wife might have bled to death. The doctor he was in company with had informed him that one recent Thursday afternoon he had tried for an hour to get medicine and could not get it till finally he reached a suburban pharmacy whose owner dwelt on the premises. Speaking on the matter generally, our informant considered it was most essential that there should be a pharmacy, if the only one in Christchurch, where one could obtain medicine at any hour of the day or night. The members of Parliament should take the matter up and get a bill through, i “ The allegations are quite correct,” said a doctor who was seen by the Press reporter on the subject, “with the exception of one or possibly two places there is no other chemist’s shop you can rely upon. It is a very extraordinary i state of affairs. Unless a chemist lives ! on the premises the proprietor is not . allowed to keep anyone there after hours. ■ At least I understand that according to the Shops and Offices Act they are obliged ti shut up the shop. The occurrence complained of is a very common thing, and frequently my patients have to wait till the next morning before they can obtain medicine. Up till two years ago one could easily get medicine at any hour of the night. The Shops and Offices Act has stopped that, and unless a man lives

on the premises one cannot get the medicine.” , ~ Another doctor said medical men snouia keep emergency drugs, especially for such cases as the one quoted. If the doctors did not keep them they could hardly blame the chemists. He hardly saw they could force the chemist to remain open all night. They would in that case have to ask the wholesale druggists to remain open as well. A chemist who was' seen on the subject said that certain pharmacies catered for night work, but they did not all carry it out properly. In any case, it did not pay. There was not enough in it to keep a man. Nowadays chemists were seldom called upon for medicine after hours, and besides doctors carried emergency drugs.