Recently my daughter asked me to call in at our local vet clinic to collect and
pay for some antibiotics that were on backorder for her cat. This consisted of 42 tablets of Noroclav 50mg and to my surprise the cost was $66.90, which equates to
almost $1.60 per tablet - the dosage is 1.5 tablets per day. She had previously purchased 42 of the same medicine on June 24 as well. This was the balance of the medications originally prescribed.
When I had a look online, I saw that these tablets are sold by online vet pharmacies as low as .50c each, for the exact same tablet.
While I fully apreciate that vet clinics need to make money, (I have been in business myself for almost 50 years) I consider that charging more than 3 times for a prescription medicine (and presumably at .50c they are still making a profit), is to put it mildly outrageous.
When I subsequently contacted the vet clinic to ask if we could get a script to enable us to to source our prescription medications at substantially lower prices online, I was informed that we would have to pay a separate charge, over and above the normal consultation fee, of $36.00, which they claimed was set by AVA!!
This is highway robbery and I have passed this on to the ACCC for investigation, but doubt tghis will happen.
I’m hoping that CHOICE will take this up on behalf of consumers, especially those who struggle to make ends meet during these increasingly difficult economic times.
