The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-04-08
MEDICINES FOR THE POOR.
THE CITY MAY Go HACK TO THE
DIsPENsARY SYSTEM.

The Present System of Contracting
With Drug stores Too Expensive
and Not working satisfactorily.
Mayor Myers Thinks the Dlspen-
sary System WOuIG he Better and
Health officer Drummer Agrees
With Him-The Cost Much Greater
Under the Present system.
It is likely that the present methods Of
dispensing medicines TO the poor viii be
taken up for discussion by council soon.
and 1t is not unlikely that some change
will be made.
Mayor Myers thinks that the present
system is costing the city entirely too
much money, and he is inclined TO return
10 the dispensary system. He has re-
quesied Health Officer Drummer to look
up the records Of the cost Of the dispen-
sary system. as compared with the pres
ent manner of dispensing drugs. and to
furnish him with the figures in order that
he may form an intelligent idea Of the
workings of the two systems.
The cost Of maintaining the old city
dispensary, as shown by the mayors re-
ports for several years previous to its
abandonment. was less than 5000 year.
On account of the general complaint Of
the manner Of conducting the dispensary
it was abandoned and the plan Of having
medicines furnished the INDECENT poor by
making contracts with drug stores I'm
various parts of the city for that purpose
was adopted. The change was made IN
the early part of 1898. The cost for that
year by the new plan, was slightly in ex-
cess OF the cost Of the dispensary for the
previous year. The cost Of furnishing
medicines by this system last year was
nearly 5000 and at the rate the bills are
coming in the cost for this year VIII be
in the neighborhoOd OF 5000, bills for one
month of this year amounting to 5000.
1t is very difficult to keep the cost
down under the present system" said DR..
Drummer, when spoken to Of the matter.
Here is lot Of GOO prescriptions from
one drug store which / have just gone
though with. II is business for the drug
stores and naturally they like TO get al
the city prescriptions they can. II Is
queer, though. the difference in the num-
Der of prescriptions filled by different
drug stores having contracts with the
city. A great many people are undoubt-
edly getting free prescriptions who are
not entitled to chem and some phySi-
clans are not over careful in their man
ner of giving prescriptions. The trouble
with the old dispensary was not with the
system, but with the manner I'm which the
place was run. That this is the case
can easily be shown by figures. The last
year before the dispensary was aband-
oned it only filled a little over 1000 pre-
scrptions. \ few years before il filled in
one year over $4,000 prescriptions. That
shows what a dispensary is capable of
doing when properly conducted. g'he best
plan the city can adopt, In my opinion, is
to nave two city dispensares, one in the
eastern and one in the western part of
the city. This would accommodate all
those receiving free prescriptions and
the cost, l think, would be less than at
present. People who are not charity pa
tients would not be likely to so to a
city dispensary for drugs whereas now
many people who are able to pay for their
medicines have charity prescriptions
filled at the contract drug stores be-
cause nobody but the druggist knows they
are securing charity prescriptions. There
is not the least doubt that the city is i'm
posed upon to a great extent in the pres
ent system. With a properly conducted
dispensary system medicines could be fur
nished to the poor at less cost than at
present and with much more satisfactory
results to the health department"