I see that the prescribing of medicines is becoming a fraught issue in both the human and animal health sectors.

A letter from high-profile pharmacist Sheena Mitchell to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar highlighted the frustrations of many pharmacists in the human health sphere.

Mitchell asked why her profession was not being fully utilised in battling the current tsunami of infections that are packing out doctors’ surgeries.

Mitchell called on the Taoiseach to allow pharmacists to prescribe medicines for a range of common ailments – as is the case in the UK – thereby taking pressure off hard-pressed doctors.

Meanwhile, on the animal health side of the house, the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS) proposed that vets should be allowed to issue prescriptions online.

The ICOS proposal is in response to the stalled animal medicines bill, which will see farmers requiring a prescription from a vet to purchase common products such as drenches and doses.

Dominate supply

Co-operative stores, like other merchants, fear the proposed animal medicines legislation will allow vets to dominate the supply of drenches and doses to farmers.

However, The Dealer wouldn’t hold his breath on finding a compromise which will satisfy either the vets or the doctors.

Even Ashoka Mody of the International Monetary Fund and his Troika sidekicks shied away from taking on the medical docs. The vets are an equally impressive outfit when it comes to defending their patch.