Since July this year, when the government announced the agreement with pharmaceutical importers on the reining in of medicine prices, officials from the Consumer and Competition Department have already carried out more than 500 inspections in Malta and Gozo to ascertain that the agreement was being honoured.
Answering a parliamentary question by Anthony Agius Decelis (PL), Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said that on such inspections the price of each pharmaceutical involved in the agreement was verified. In certain cases the pharmacy was asked about the amount of old stock on its shelves.
In other cases the need was felt to contact the importer to verify if a particular pharmacy had bought any new stock since the agreement.
Inspections to date had ascertained that pharmaceutical prices were progressively decreasing.