Pharmacists' strike

On the sixth o'clock news I was shocked to learn that the Irish Government is planning to cut the money they give to pharmacies for operating the medical card scheme. It is another kick in the stomach for people that are already suffering.

I have a chronic pain and as result I am on thirty-five tablets a day most of which are for pain. I was just talking to my own pharmacist who says that the pharmacies have no other choice but to strike unless the government keeps paying the pharmacists the same amount of money.

Has the government got mad? They hit a people that are most vulnerable. How on Earth do they think that paying the pharmacists less when they are providing a valuable much needed service is going to help manage the four billion plus shortfall?

I ask this question because more and more people are loosing their jobs every day and they are having to apply for social welfare which includes medical card etc.

I don't understand the government's logic.

The last week in June I was watching TV and I couldn't believe that the government was closing words in a major Dublin children's hospital thus forcing the cancellation of life saving operations. This linked with the pharmacies strike shows me that the government's answer to this recession is to hope that the sickest and most vulnerable people will die.

The question has to be asked: Does the current Irish government want to kill the most vulnerable people who are as I see it the old, the young, people with life threatening, disabilities and medical conditions?

If the pharmacies' strike goes ahead and somebody dies, because they can't get the medicine that normally keeps them stable, then I would put the blame at the government's feet and not the pharmacists' feet.

All the pharmacists are asking for is for things to stay as they are and pay the pharmacists as they have been doing because by withdrawing this payment the pharmacies will go out of business and the most vulnerable people in Irish society will suffer.