Cutting the cost of medicines

Sir, – Not counting prescription and dispensing costs, my family spends around €120 per month on eight different medications for relatively common medical issues. Exactly the same medications or their generic equivalents are available in Spain for €55. None of these generic equivalents are listed on the HSE web site. This, while the HSE is running a deficit of over €600 million a year, is truly astonishing. Who is in charge of the generic medicines programme and what have they been doing for the past five years?. Perhaps I could make a few bob by setting up an import business myself! – Yours, etc,

JOE HACKETT,

Charlotte Terrace,

Dalkey Co Dublin.