Statement by the Department of Public Health

In a statement issued to the Press the Chamber of Pharmacists alleged that licences for new pharmacies have been issued recently, "under dubious criteria and at least one case appears to be illegal". The Department of Public Health declares that in August this year, two licences of Superintendent of Public Health have been issued for new dispensaries.

These licences were issued on the ground that both were eligible by the regulations as before the revocation of regulation 5 in June 1996. The Department had already started processing these applications before the administrative freeze in July last year. These licences were approved following a recent ruling by the Ombudsman on this issue.