FREE PRESCRIPTIONS
AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL PLAN (Received Jan. 14, 1 p.m.) CANBERRA, Jan. 14 A free medical prescription service will soon operate throughout Australia. Announcing this the Federal Minister of Health, Senator Fraser, said a Bill to authorise the scheme would be one of the first measures to be submitted to the Commonwealth Parliament at its next session, which will open on February 9. Medicines prescribed by doctors to about 500 standard prescriptions will be made up by chemists without charge. The Government will pay the chemists a fixed fee for each prescription. The cost of the scheme, which was approved by the recent Commonwealth health conference, will be met from the National- Social Services Fund, which is financed from taxation. It is unofficially estimated that the scheme will cost about £4,000,000 a year. This was only the first step in a long-range medical and health programme which would include all medical and hospital services free of cost, said the Minister.
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Bibliographic details
Waikato Times, Volume 194, Issue 22245, 14 January 1944, Page 2
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160FREE PRESCRIPTIONS Waikato Times, Volume 194, Issue 22245, 14 January 1944, Page 2
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