Govt to take over temporary funding for Adverse Medicines Events advisory phone service
The Minister for Health and Ageing, Tony Abbott, has said that the Government will provide funding to enable the services provided through the Adverse Medicines Events (AME) telephone line to continue for a further 12 months.
The AME line has provided the opportunity for people to speak to a pharmacist about medicine safety or report adverse experiences with medicines.
The Pharmacy Guild of Australia is funding the service until the end of July 2007, and had called on the Government to fund it on a permanent basis.
The Commonwealth Government will fund the service for 12 months beginning 1 August 2007 to ensure that consumers are provided with a way to seek help with or report adverse reactions to medicines.
During this time the service will be reviewed and options for future funding developed, the Minister said.