Roy Watson's Column

 

MCC goes

The Medicines Control Council (MCC), bastion of medicines registration and enforcement of associated regulations in South Africa for 43 years, has gone.

In its place, in terms of the Medicines and Related Substances Amendment Bill 2008 gazetted on April 18, will be the SA Health Products Authority (SAHPA). In broad terms, the new authority will be responsible for the registration and regulation of all health related substances, not only medicines. These will include foodstuffs and cosmetics with health-based ingredients and claims. Also included for the first time will be medical devices.

SAHPA will function as a government agency with a CEO appointed by the minister.

Intentions to intervene on pricing confirmed

The government’s intention to intervene on health care pricing, as indicated publicly by the Minister of Health earlier in the year, was confirmed with the publication of the National Health Act Amendment 2008 (Government Gazette, April 18).

The amendments include the appointment of a Facilitator for Health Pricing to annually invite stakeholders to negotiate on health pricing of health services to arrive at schedules of fees, to be the facilitator of such negotiations and chair proceedings, and to hear and resolve disputes in relation to pricing.

A Health Pricing Tribunal has also been proposed to deal with instances where negotiating parties cannot agree on a schedule of fees, as has a Health Pricing Inspector who will have the authority to inspect premises and equipment when deemed necessary in terms of the regulations.

Proposed measures ‘draconian’, ‘violation of rights’

The SA Medical Association’s (SAMA’s) immediate reaction to the proposed National Health Act amendments was to issue a media release stating that the proposals represented a violation of rights in direct conflict with the country’s Constitution.

.”A watchdog on health pricing is not required, but a proper structure to facilitate pricing, based on appropriate information,” SAMA added.

Reaction from hospital group Medi-Clinic was much the same. In its media statement, CEO Koert Pretorius declared that the extensive and interventionist powers given to the Minister of Health could only be described as draconian: “We seriously question whether the Minister of Health is entitled to intervene in the private sector in the manner proposed,” Pretorius added.

Socialist policies don’t work in capitalist economy

The measures adopted by government to reduce the price of medicines clearly indicate that socialist policies cannot be applied in a capitalist economy.

Speaking at a recent pharmaceutical industry convention in Johannesburg, Dr Norman Mabasa, chairman of the National Convention on Dispensing, said that the strategy adopted by the Department of Health to lower medicines costs was seriously flawed: “To erode the mark-up on medicines for pharmacists and medical practitioners was one of the worst mistakes that any authority could have made in a capitalist state like our own.  You cannot apply socialist policies in a capitalist economy.

“No doubt the price of medicines had to be reduced,” Mabasa conceded, “but definitely not at the expense of the accessibility of medicines by the erosion of the viability of the suppliers.”