Three Bonnyville pharmacies closed their doors for two hours last Thursday morning as local store owners do their best to show the provincial government how unhappy they are with the budget cuts announced in early March.
Tellier's Value Drug Mart, Davey's Pharmasave and the Bonnyville Clinic Dispensary each shut down shop at 11 a.m. in response to what they say is the provincial government ignoring pleas from pharmacist association RxA to come to the table and negotiate terms on a deal both sides can agree on.
Health Minister Fred Horne announced on Wednesday that the province would extend a 30-day washout period for the sale of generic drugs beyond May 1 as part of a $40 million reinvestment in the pharmaceutical industry. RxA has rebuked that announcement, stating that the true numbers reinvested would be closer to $12 million, and that pharmacists across the province were overwhelmingly critical of what they called ‘short-term fixes'.
Store owners and employees stood outside their respective buildings on Thursday to communicate with members of the community and let them know exactly why they felt the need to go to such extreme measures.
Paul Tellier, owner of Tellier's Value Drug Mart, said since the provincial budget was released in early March pharmacists across Alberta had been coming up with ideas on how to get their point across to the government.
“Pharmacists organized a rally at the (Alberta) Legislature on April 11. That was one of the largest rallies the province has seen in a long time and nothing was done,” Tellier said. “So after that first one, many people decided we needed to keep the pressure on and have a second rally. Unfortunately many rural store owners like myself can't drive two hours to Edmonton to participate, so we decided to do our protest here.”
Tellier said he felt it was important that all those affected by the budget cuts stuck together to try to force the government into negotiations.
“At the end of the day, all pharmacists and pharmacies are in the same boat,” Tellier said. “These huge cuts are enormous and will have an enormous effect on my business, on Pharmasave's business and on the Clinic's business – something needs to be done.”
He went on to add that he has absolutely no problem with the province wanting to reduce the cost of generic drugs, however he stated there had to be negotiations between the government and RxA so there can be a suitable compensation model in place that will give Albertans the pharmacy service they want as well as providing pharmacies with financial stability.
That is a sentiment shared by PJ Davey, a pharmacist with Pharmasave, after he said it wouldn't make any sense for pharmacists to oppose lower drug prices for the public.
“I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm not against reducing the price of drugs for people, but the way the province has gone about things so far, there has been nothing given for long-term sustainability,” Davey said. “You don't see the government going into (private businesses) and asking them to cut their prices by 50 per cent because that simply wouldn't make sense – that's where we're at right now.”
Speaking about the announcement made by Minister Horne on the Dave Rutherford Talk Show last Wednesday, Davey said he felt the fact the province scheduled that interview proved that they're not listening to the concerns of pharmacists.
“The main thing all of us want is long-term sustainability,” Davey said. “Sure, it's great that they've given us the washout period back, but they almost had to do that anyway. This announcement, this investment has absolutely nothing to do with negotiation with the Alberta Pharmacist Association and does nothing to provide us with long-term sustainability.”
Tellier said that the investment Horne talked about was very similar to a proposal the province made a few weeks ago but was quickly declined by the RxA, who said the terms offered weren't even close to what was needed to keep pharmacies sustainable.
Both Davey and Tellier said public response to the short-term closure had been positive and it was encouraging to see just how many people supported them.
As things stand, Tellier said he is hopeful that the province will come to the table to negotiate, but is preparing himself for the worst, should the government continue to close the door on negotiations.
“If the province moves forward without making any significant changes, we're going to have to reevaluate everything we do here, not just at the pharmacy but throughout the entire store,” Tellier said. “We'll have to look at staffing, prices of items we control, charging for services that traditionally were always free. Basically, we'll have to change the entire way we run our business.”
Davey echoed those sentiments, saying smaller rural pharmacies could be forced to close should the government refuse to negotiate.
Janelle Fox, a pharmacist at Davey's Pharmasave said accessibility to pharmacies will almost certainly decrease over time should nothing be done.
“We won't be able to provide the same service we have in the past because we will have limited staffing,” Fox said. “Patients will no longer have the luxury of calling us and speaking to us about certain things because we'll be busy doing other things. In the end, this will only make doctors offices and the emergency rooms busier, as people that used to come and get advice from us at the pharmacy will no longer be able to do so, meaning they're going to have to go elsewhere.”
