THE 50 per cent mark up to pharmacists on drugs for patients - under the General Medical Services Board (GMSB) schemes was described as outrageous by members of the Dail Committee of Public Accounts.
The pharmacists were also warned by Mr Eric Byrne of Democratic Left that if they did not accept new methods of verifying payments, then a political solution would have to be found.
Yesterday the chief officer of the GMSB, Mr T.A. Flood, said there had been 10 cases of suspected fraud in the system, of £4,000 or £5,000 each. Six or seven pharmacists had been removed from the schemes.
The Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr John Purcell, said pharmacists' claims under the schemes were not accompanied by any supporting evidence as to the amount claimed. Attempts to have third party verification had been rejected by the Irish Pharmacists' Union (IPU). Mr Flood said that following negotiations, the IPU was about to ballot on a new method of accounting for payments, with which the committee would be pleased.
In his report, Mr Purcell said that inherent defects in the system gave rise to "uncertainty" on claims. In 1994, £31,754,104 was spent on these schemes.
Mr Byrne said the 50 per cent mark up was wrong. It was "immoral" that the State was paying out such a high amount, especially where more expensive drugs for conditions such as MS were concerned. The scheme was not fully accountable.
Mr Flood agreed that a graded scheme would be better, with a lower level of payment for higher priced drugs.
The hoard operates a number of schemes, including the Drugs Cost Subsidisation Scheme and Long Term Illness Scheme, that involve paying pharmacists for supplying drugs and medicines to those who qualify.
Pharmacists get a dispensing fee as well as the full drug cost and 50 per cent mark up.