A proposal to slash the maximum amount of prescription drugs dispensed to Hong Kong patients should not move ahead without careful consideration. Hospital Authority chairman Henry Fan Hung-ling floated the cost-saving measure earlier this month. Medicines are an understandable target for the authority as the city scrambles to respond to its budget deficit. The public body’s annual outlay for drugs is HK$9.6 billion, or about 10 per cent of its overall spending.

However, a patient advocacy group has raised concerns that a 75 per cent cut in the limit on what may be handed out in one go could put an undue burden on people with chronic illnesses. Hong Kong Patients’ Voices chairman Alex Lam Chi-yau said that very ill patients might be forced to take inconvenient and costly extra trips to hospital if the maximum course distributed each time was cut. The advocacy group also worried about crowding and longer wait times at pharmacies if the authority cuts the limit from 16 weeks to four.

Authorities have limited drug course lengths before. Paracetamol prescriptions have been capped at four weeks since early last year when there was panic buying of cold medicines and painkillers during the pandemic. Pharmacists have suggested that reducing drug courses could prevent waste, since patients sometimes must switch to other medications as their conditions change. This is worth weighing, given poisoning and pollution risks of unused pills.

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It also could open doors to wider acceptance of primary healthcare providers. About 600 community pharmacists are operating in the city, offering patients a way to access medication without relying on hospital visits.