Born in 1946 and brought up in Cupar, Fife, I was educated at the local school - 
Banff & Buchan MSP Stewart Stevenson has welcomed the latest statistics that reveal an increase of 4.5% in the number of prescription drugs that were dispensed in April-September 2008, compared with the same period the previous year. A total of 42.5 million items were dispensed in the first half of this financial year, following the Scottish Government’s move to cut prescription charges from £6.85 to £5.
Commenting, Mr Stevenson said:
“The SNP is committed to the principle that the NHS should be free at the point of delivery and believes that prescription charges represent a tax on ill health. Our decision to cut these charges ahead of scrapping them has been vindicated by the increased take-up of prescription medicine.
“This increase reveals that a significant number of people were avoiding prescription medication because of the financial burden associated with it, something that is unacceptable in Scotland’s NHS.
“Scotland’s health can only benefit by removing the economic barrier to wellbeing that too many people in Scotland have faced. That is why the SNP Government is determined to phase out prescription charges for everybody by 2011, a year ahead of our manifesto commitment.
“Once again the SNP Government is fulfilling its promises to the people of Scotland after years of inaction under the previous administration.”
Karen Adam is now the MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast
