COMMENT | Janelle (not her real name) is now a single mother after her husband passed away several years ago.

Suffering from epilepsy, she has to take care of her only son who suffers from multiple disabilities. “Anytime I can get into a fit, and it is dangerous for me to be driving at night,” she said.

In recent months, she said her medication has changed. “The hospital did not have the budget like before; therefore, they have switched to some generic drugs.

“I was on it for a couple of months but it made me very unstable until I decided on my own to drop it and fork out my own money to buy the same medication that I was on before this,” she said.

Only two days ago, she said she was a lot more stable than when she was depending on the generic drugs prescribed by the hospital.

The worst affected group are the pensioners. They are now finding it hard to get their medicine at public hospitals.

Sometimes, the pharmacists at public hospitals tell patients to buy medicine from private pharmacies instead and then claim back the money spent from the government.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a retiree said that he has been getting complaints from other pensioners who said that with the pensions that they are receiving, they are finding it hard to afford these medicines.

“They have to pay in advance,” he said. “After that, when they submit their claims, sometimes, it takes more than three or even four months before they get reimbursed”...