Chamber welcomes change to prescription prices

The Gibraltar Chamber of Commerce said it welcomes a review of prescription prices as part of “wider GHA cost-saving measures” while setting a cap on a maximum fee of three items, a move it says will help the public “to manage” the increase in the cost of living.

The GHA announced the increase in the price of prescriptions from its current £2.50 to £5 as from June 21, and also increased the eligibility in age for free prescriptions from 60 to 65.

“This change is part of a wider move by the GHA to rein in its costs which have increased significantly over the last decade,” the Chamber said in a statement on Thursday.

“The GHA’s budget (not including the costs of dealing with the Covid pandemic) has doubled in size since 2009 even though Gibraltar’s population has increased by only around 10 per cent over the same period.”

“This review is part of normal good housekeeping as practised by many businesses and it aims to achieve improved service levels given the Government’s current budget constraints.”

“The costs of running the public sector should not be increased each year as a matter of course.”

“Where efficiencies can be made by delivering the same or better services at a lower cost due to improvements in either technology or better processes, they should be made.”

“Nobody should stand in the way of this.”

“This benefits the whole of the community.”

A spokesman for the Chamber of Commerce said dealing effectively with the pandemic has “come at an enormous cost”, both in the lives which have sadly been lost and in the money that needed to be spent, much of it borrowed.

“This money has to be repaid and now is the time to look at all costs and processes in Government to see where savings can be made as well as improvements in service levels to the public,” the spokesman added.