Australian government won’t supply pharmacies with rapid antigen tests for concession scheme
Pharmacists have warned they may not be able to provide free rapid antigen tests to lower income Australians under the national concession card scheme because of supply issues, as the government says it won’t procure extra kits for businesses.
The prime minister Scott Morrison on Monday said his government would not be distributing any rapid antigen testing kits to pharmacies as part of the concessional scheme, and that instead he expects chemists to source supplies themselves to meet the additional demand.
“They’ll come through the pharmacies and the pharmacy is responsible for securing their private supplies to meet that demand,” Morrison said.
Details as to how the scheme will work are yet to be finalised, however it is understood pharmacies will be paid a fee per testing kit they give out under a payment system split evenly between the commonwealth and the local state or territory government.
In the days since the scheme was agreed by national cabinet last Wednesday, pharmacies have come to realise they will be required to source the additional rapid antigen tests for concession card holders, but they are unclear as to how much they will be paid for each test.
The free testing scheme will be run in contrast to how the vaccine rollout works, where providers order supplies from the government and don’t have to deal with commercial suppliers in the market.
Patrick Carrig, who manages Carrig Chemists in Adelaide, is furious at the government.
So far, Carrig has only placed one order for rapid tests – on Christmas Eve, just after the South Australian government announced they could be used in the state – and they are still yet to arrive.
He is unsure of what demand will be like and is yet to place orders for the government’s free scheme for concession card holders because he wants to understand how much pharmacies will be paid per test and how long they must wait to receive the payment.
“We are presumably meant to spend our days scrounging for the cheapest tests so that we can at least break even on the deal,” Carrig told Guardian Australia.
“We are expected to source our own tests and then provide them at whatever the government is willing to pay.”
Carrig warned that many pharmacies would not have sufficient cash flow to afford large orders of the tests only to give them out for free and wait potentially weeks to receive payment from the government.
“They’re expensive. You’ve got to spend thousands of dollars. Not really sure what the price will be, what the government will pay you for each one.”
Carrig said if the government did not change its position to also distribute the testing kits to chemists, some business owners may be forced to consider if they can take part in the scheme.
“This puts us in a dubious ethical position. If the tests fall under the PBS (pharmaceutical benefits scheme), we’re not allowed to not supply them. But if it’s going to be a separate thing, well, not every pharmacy may be able to afford to do it,” he said.
The owners of Bannockburn Pharmacy
in Victoria are also concerned as to how they will source rapid tests for the scheme.
“It came to our attention late Friday that the Federal Government WILL NOT be providing RATs DIRECTLY to pharmacies to give away for free to concessional card holders as per their announcement last Wednesday,” the pharmacy posted on its Facebook page.
“Pharmacies were under the impression that the federal government would be allocating stock they have ordered directly to us pharmacies.
“Instead we have been informed the Federal Government expect pharmacies to source their own RAT’s to give away to concessional card holders and then somehow the government will reimburse us to cover our cost of buying them. Pharmacies still haven’t been informed how this will occur,” the pharmacy said, calling on eligible customers who struggle to access a free RAT to contact their local MP.
A spokeswoman for the department of health told Guardian Australia “as the PM said today, the government is finalising discussions with the pharmacy sector regarding the implementation of this extended concessional program, and further details will be published shortly”.
The opposition health spokesman Mark Butler responded to the “confusion” surrounding the free test scheme for concession holders, tweeting “every rollout the prime minister touches he bungles”. Butler reiterated Labor’s policy, that “rapid tests should be free and accessible for all!”.