Dr Monique Ryan, Mark Butler and the new way to unnerve the Pharmacy Guild
The Minister for Health was quizzed in Parliament last week by the neurologist and independent MP.
Another chance is coming for those wanting to take the measure of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia’s current political powers under a new government.
Or put another way, a chance to measure the powers of the guild to make unworkable an apparently enlightened policy proposal to help patients access medicines while saving the health budget a couple of hundred million dollars.
Last week, Mark Butler was quizzed in Parliament by Melbourne paediatric neurologist turned independent MP Dr Monique Ryan.
She wanted to know if the Minister for Health and Aged Care would reconsider the PBAC recommendation to let GPs prescribe a 60-day supply of 143 low-risk medications for long-term chronic conditions.
