Pharmacist's stabbing deplored

The Malta Chamber of Pharmacists yesterday expressed its grave concern at the "disturbing news" of the stabbing of a pharmacist in Tarxien on Tuesday evening.

The pharmacist was stabbed and seriously injured after he refused to sell medicine without a prescription.

The chamber strongly deplored the incident and called for justice to be done.

It also insisted that the public should be more aware of the duties and obligations that pharmacists, as a vital part of the primary healthcare team, have towards their patients.

"A pharmacy is not a self-service shop and medicines are not ordinary items of commerce," it said.

It insisted that a pharmacy was a special place where highly qualified experts in medicines practice their profession and above all have a legal and ethical duty to protect public health - including that of the perpetrator of this "criminal incident".

The chamber offered its solidarity with the injured pharmacist and his family and expressed hope that he would recover swiftly.

The Pharmacy Council also strongly deplored the attack and pointed out that the pharmacist is there to render a service to the public and therefore should be given due respect.

The council said certain medicines require a doctor's prescription in order to be dispensed by the pharmacist.

The attack was also condemned by the Chamber of Medium and Small Enterprise - GRTU, which described it as the most recent in a series of thefts and hold-ups on this category of worker.

The GRTU called on its members to invest in security systems and on the police to become more conscious of the risks facing owners of pharmacies and their employees.

The GRTU said it would be meeting the Police Commissioner and the Health Minister to discuss providing more security to pharmacists.