Yahoo Movies Sydney pharmacies in areas hit by Omicron struggle to provide concessional rapid tests
Pharmacies in some areas of Sydney with the highest rates of Omicron infections are struggling to provide rapid antigen tests to concession card holders despite participating in the federal government scheme.
Only three of 15 participating pharmacies from the South Western Sydney local health district had any RATs available to concession card holders when contacted by the Guardian this week, with the exact same number replicated in the Western Sydney local health district.
Both those health districts have some of the highest rates of infection in New South Wales with both districts accounting for a third of cases since the beginning of December.
On Thursday alone the districts accounted for over 25% of total cases in NSW, with over 30% of PCR tests coming from South Western and Western Sydney.
But there is an ongoing discrepancy between PCR and RATs being registered from the region with both health districts lagging behind other regions in NSW when it comes to reporting positive RATs while simultaneously recording the most positive PCR tests in the state.
The discrepancy could be linked to the lack of RATs available to concession card holders across the region.
It comes as the president of Professional Pharmacists Australia, Dr Geoff March, called the concession card scheme rollout “reckless and negligent”.
“The federal government’s announcement relied on pharmacies sourcing the RAT tests themselves, but a recent survey found that over 93% of pharmacists have reported major difficulties accessing any supplies at all,” he said.
In a statement, the PPA outlined how the shortages had left pharmacists reeling, saying many were at “breaking point”.
“The shortages are taking a major toll on pharmacists themselves, with over 75% of pharmacists also reporting that the shortage of RAT tests had a ‘significant’ or ‘extreme’ impact on their ability to do their work,” March said.
The PPA also called for the government to provide pharmacists with PPE supplies such as N95 masks, saying the shortage of supplies was “undermining” the health of chemists.
Across the Western Sydney Local Health District, which includes Blacktown, Parramatta, Auburn and Castle Hill, pharmacies told the Guardian they do not expect stock to return until mid-February.
Some said they sell out of stock extremely quickly, and – with shortages affecting wholesalers as well – have struggled to meet demand.
A pharmacist from North Rocks who asked to remain anonymous said most of their lack of stock was linked to wholesalers, who were restricted in what they could offer.
“[The wholesalers] could only offer us single packs, they have themselves struggled to get the packs to us,” they said.
“We actually haven’t been able to sell any of the concession card tests, we are a small pharmacy and they usually sell out on the same day they arrive.”
In the South Western Sydney Local Health District, which covers areas hit hard by the Delta outbreak last year including Bankstown, Liverpool and Fairfield, pharmacies have similarly struggled.
The three pharmacists that did have stock told the Guardian they had placed restrictions on purchases to limit people hoarding the tests, with all three saying they could only offer two at a time.
The scheme, introduced by the federal government earlier this week, allows the 6.6m concession card holders in Australia to access up to 10 free RATs over a three month period.
Guardian Australia reported on Thursday pharmacies are losing up to $7.50 on each rapid antigen test under the scheme. The tests currently cost the pharmacies up to $17.50 each but the government is providing only a $10 reimbursement, according to the Pharmacy Guild of Australia.
The guild has established a rapid antigen test finder for concession card holders, but a pharmacist in Bankstown who also asked to be anonymous explained it only shows participating chemists.
Related: Coalition accuses suppliers of misleading customers over ‘missing’ rapid antigen tests
“It doesn’t actually reflect stock levels, just shows participating pharmacists,” they said.
“At this point, we don’t know when stock will return, the demand has been that high.”
Smaller pharmacies have also been competing with larger pharmacy chains such as Chemist Warehouse for supplies, further squeezing the market.
The federal government has previously indicated that testing supplies will improve in the coming weeks, with 16m tests expected to arrive at pharmacies before the end of January.
It comes as NSW recorded 17,316 new infections on Thursday, a slight drop on the previous day’s figures, with 7,382 of those cases from RATs and 9,934 from PCR tests.
