SOUNDING OFF:Still more on the price of medicines. A reader called Tom got in touch with a story about remarkable price differentials between a very common medication in the Republic and in Spain. He uses a drug called Omeprazol to relieve the symptoms of reflux and will need to take it every day for the rest of his life. He was initially prescribed with Losec – a popular branded name for Omeprazol.

He was paying €70 for a month’s supply “until a friendly temporary Australian locum pharmacist in my normal chemists informed me the cheaper capsule was Ulcid. He was amazed at costs here. Same stuff, same effect, but €48 per month.”

Of course the pharmacist could not simply swap his Losec for Ulcid because they do not have the legal authority to stray from a doctor’s prescription even though the branded, more expensive drug is absolutely identical in every respect to the generic equivalent.

So Tom took himself off to his doctor – not a great stretch as has to go to his GP every three months at a cost of €60 a time to get his prescription renewed. He spends €240 on GP visits each year and €580 on the cheaper tablets – a total of €820.

Well, that is what he was spending until last month when he ran out of tablets in Barcelona. “I went in to a chemist’s with my empty Ulcid container and asked could I have some.” The chemist did not have Ulcid but had Omeprazole in a capsule form called Pensa. “The same drug, same effect. The cost of a month’s supply – €3.50. Yes, €3.50. And then he asked me how many months I needed. So I obtained a year’s supply for €42. Unbelievable. A saving of over €700.”

He points out that someone with the same condition as himself can bring a friend to Barcelona for a long weekend, stay in a 4-star hotel, buy a year’s supply of the tablets and still have change out of the €820 he would be spending getting the same drugs in Ireland.

Tesco incommunicado

Anne Cahill from Clondalkin wonders if any of our readers have succeeded in making contact with Tesco’s customer care recently because she’s found it next to impossible to get to speak to someone. “I phoned over two days in late May, resulting in zilch. A follow-up letter has gone unanswered,” she says.

Early last week she tried making contact again, but, after going through all the options and selecting the customer service option, “the phone simply rings forever”. “If you go directly to reception and attempt to state your case, you are whipped back to ‘4’ for customer services, with the same zero result,” she continues.

She also points out that each time she calls the number, a “stern” recording tells her that “the contents of this call may be recorded and used for training purposes”. “Exactly what Tesco are training these people for is unclear – certainly, facilitating customer queries can’t be on their agenda.”

Fast on their feet

Roger Hurley has a good news story. He sent his MBT shoes to the service centre in Limerick to be re-soled recently. He dropped the parcel at the post office in Dalkey on a Monday, just before lunch, and received his rejuvenated shoes just before lunch on Wednesday.

“With the speedy service of both the MBT Service Centre and An Post, I am doubly impressed!”