Johannesburg - It is crucial for the Rev Isaac Harley to take his medication daily - it’s a matter of life and death really.
As a diabetic with a hypertensive comorbidity, he depends on his tablets and insulin to maintain his insulin levels and to manage his high blood pressure.
But it’s been one problem after the next, he told The Sunday Independent, since his medical aid recommended he use its pharmacy's direct service to deliver his chronic medication to his address instead of claiming from a local pharmacy in his neighbourhood, Elsies River in Cape Town.
“On more than one occasion I’ve had to call to find out what had happened to my medicine.
"During one stint I had no medicines for two weeks because of delivery delays and I didn’t have funds so I had to borrow medication from my mother, who is also diabetic, and money from friends to get the other medication privately,” the 48-year-old said.
In a battle spanning several years, the Independent Community Pharmacy Association (ICPA) challenged the Council for Medical Schemes to do away with closed designated service providers and penalty co-payments, which they believed didn’t have the interests of the patients and pharmacies at heart.
