THE TEXT OF A LETTER SENT BY THE DIRECTOR GENERAL HEALTH TO THE HONORARY SECRETARY, MALTA CHAMBER OF PHARMACISTS

24 November 2000

Mr M Borg Millo
Honorary Secretary
Malta Chamber of Pharmacists

I refer to your letter of today addressed to the Permanent Secretary in connection with the envisaged changes to the Government Pharmaceutical Services organisational structure. In his absence I have been directed to reply to your letter.

I must first point out that there is nothing in the agreement signed between Government and the Chamber of Pharmacists on the 22^nd December 1993 which states that the Government Pharmaceutical Services Directorate should be an autonomous directorate within the Ministry of Health. As you are well aware, the exigencies of the service at the time dictated that the Directorate of Pharmaceutical Services should not form part of the Health Division but should report directly to the Permanent Secretary. The experience gained over the past years has shown such an arrangement to be illogical and unpracticable. It it for this reason that the Directorate of Pharmaceutical Services has once again been moved into the Health Division with the Director of the Government Pharmaceutical Service reporting directly to the undersigned. Thus, contrary to what you say in your letter, this does not breach any agreement between the Government and the Chamber of Pharmacists and certainly does not impinge on the conditions of service and the job descriptions of employees within the Government Pharmaceutical Services.

Much as the Chamber was "perplexed and shocked" at the proposals made at our meeting of the 26^th October, the Health Division was not surprised at the Chamber's reaction. The Health Division is well aware of it's commitments to the ILO Conventions. For correctness sake, you may wish to be informed that to date Malta has ratified Conventions 87 and 98 but not 151. There is no doubt that the Health Division always tries to abide by the aforementioned conventions and seeks the opinion of the workers' representatives for its reform process. You may remember that I have written to you way back in March requesting your proposals for a new manpower plan for the Pharmaceutical Services. This, I have reminded you about on several meetings since.

During our meeting of the 5^th September I formally requested your proposals for a new organisational structure for the Pharmaceutical Services. There was no response from the Chamber to my requests. There was also no response by the

Chamber to the proposals put forward at our meeting of the 26^th October. Now, following my meeting yesterday with the Assistant Directors at the Government Pharmaceutical Service, the Chamber responds with a blanket "NO" and registers a dispute. Indeed it is much easier to object to proposals submitted then to formulate such proposals. The Chamber has not even had the decency to indicate which proposals it was objecting to and why. Indeed it did not even submit any counter proposals. May I remind you that the ILO Conventions also put a responsibility on Unions.

The Government Pharmaceutical Service has to date carried out the functions of regulator, purchaser of medicines, and service provider to the patients. At the time of its formation, these functions had to be streamlined into one department. With the progress being made in setting up appropriate structures to the deliver modern care to patients, it is considered essential to have these three functions separated. It appears the Chamber is in favour of removing the regulatory powers from the Government Pharmaceutical Services and establishing an autonomous regulatory authority. With the Health Division progressing towards establishing itself solely as a policy maker and regulator, the pharmaceutical service delivery to patients, like other services, will need to be devolved to autonomous units. It is therefore very evident that what remains of the Government Pharmaceutical Services set up seven years ago is the procurement function. The Proposals put forward by the Health Division in this regard mirror the set up currently being utilised in the private sector, something that the Chamber has been requesting for a long time.

The sole interest and concern of the Health Division is to ensure that the public is provided with an efficient, effective and quality service on all fronts. It is regretted that the Chamber, rather then being forward looking, has decided to strive for the preservation of archaic structures.

You may wish to reconsider your position

Dr Ray Busuttil
Director General Health
c.c. Hon Minister of Health
Permanent Secretary, Health
Permanent Secretary, OPM
Director General, Management & Personnel Office
Director Finance & Administration
Director Corporate Services (Health)
Director Pharmaceutical Services
Director of Labour
President, CMTU
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