Australian chemists get huge discounts on generic drug prices under the taxpayer-funded pharmaceutical subsidy scheme, but they do not show same generosity to people. They charge net rate from them even though they are supposed to give medicines at discounted rate.

Australia’s Federal Government found such activities going on and ruled out generic medicine prices would be slashed by 80% and the rule would get active by 1April 2012. Prices have reduced but even then Australians would need to pay four times more the cost than their counterparts.

The government said schemes were designed so consumers could derive benefit, but they found pharmacists to exploiting with it. This was totally unacceptable, said Health Minister Tanya Plibersek and further affirmed that now vulnerable would be able to buy medicines which they used to miss due to its price.

Comparative analysis of the Pharma in Focus online journal revealed that if the government would seriously implement this rule then they would be able to generate an additional $120m per year. This amount could further be used for improving medical care.

But it seems there is one who does not think that the government would reflect those additional savings. A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Ageing said if the government would make extra savings then it would never intimate about it to people.

It is great news that the government was able to catch the wrong doer but what about an extra cost which they still have to pay in comparison to other countries. Now after discount a simvastatin pill which is taken to maintain cholesterol would cost $22.68, but in US it is available for $5.90 while in Britain it is for just $3.

Plibersek said they would surely implement the plan in next year and would also try to bring down the vast gap.