Pharmacies to stop discounts on medicines

OUR CORRESPONDENT

The UAE Ministry of Health has issued a directive to pharmacies to end the practice of discounts to the tune of 5-15 per cent on prescriptions. Spot inspections were carried out to check possible violations.

Pharmacy sources said violations come with stiff fines, hence in the last few days all outlets have complied with the order, Gulf News reports. Given the market situation, they plan to approach the authorities with requests to extend the discount offers.

According to industry sources, the authorities do not want to see competitive discounts being offered by pharmacies to increase sales in such a vital category. The ministry periodically sets the prices on medications for chronic illnesses that are prescribed by physicians or sold over-the-counter at pharmacies. In the recent past, the cost of many life-sustaining medicines, mostly imported, were brought down significantly.

Leading pharmacy operators in the UAE have been offering loyalty programmes to consumers so that they stick with them for all their medicine purchases. The loyalty points, however, only provided the consumer with offers on non-prescribed medicines, vitamins and skincare brands. Such loyalty deals placed small operators at a disadvantage as they could not compete with the big ones on incentives and offers.