The Federal Government’s decision to provide pharmacists with the prescribing rights was criticized by AMA President, Dr. Andrew Pesce.

He shared that pharmacists should never be given the authority to continue a patient’s medication without a current doctor’s prescription. The doctor should be contacted to ensure appropriate continuity of care.

A medical diagnosis is a must before prescribing any medical medication to the patient. This way, the patient’s safety can be ensured.

He said, “The Pharmacy Guild (of Australia) acknowledges that pharmacists do not have the skills to initiate medications. It follows that they also do not have the skills or the facilities to allow for reassessment of the patient to ensure optimum medication control”.

On one hand AMA is not satisfied with the latest agreement to include medical persistence, on the other hand, Guild President, Kos Sclavos explained it as “the most significant increase in the scope of the practice of pharmacists in a generation”.

He revealed that medical continuance is an important development in the scope of practice of pharmacists. This is surely going to assist in the burden on Medicare.

The National Asthma Association of Australia and Diabetes Australia supported the roll out of the scheme to provide medication for patients taking lipid modifying agents and oral contraceptive pills.