Malarone on Drugs Payment Scheme

tipperaryjim

Hi Guys,

Heading off on a bit of an adventure in early January that takes in most of Africa, India, SE Asia and China. Overall, we'll be gone for about 7 months with approx 4 months of this spent within Malaria zones.

We're now looking at deciding between Doxy or Malarone for anti malarial treatment while on the road.

Obviously due to the reduced number of side effects, Malarone would be our preferred option but the big issue here is the cost. At nearly €4 a pop, it isn't long adding up!

Both myself and my girlfriend have signed up for the Drugs Payment Scheme and we were wondering if anyone knew if we can get 4 months of Malarone under this?

Having spoken with a few people, I'm a little dubious as to whether or not this is possible but any feedback here would be much appreciated

whatsyourquota

Ya you can get it. I got it last summer, you still have to pay the minimum price which is like one hundred and twenty or something. You still will save loads of money though

tipperaryjim

whatsyourquota wrote: »

Ya you can get it. I got it last summer, you still have to pay the minimum price which is like one hundred and twenty or something. You still will save loads of money though

Brilliant stuff. I'll check it out.

Just out of curiosity, how much malarone did you get? A friend told me that you can get malarone under the Drugs Payment Scheme but you can only get 1 month of it. We'll be looking for 4 months.

Thanks a gain

whatsyourquota

I only got a few weeks worth, could have been less than a month actually. I was going away for 6 weeks to SE Asia but only needed it for Laos and Vietnam so I didnt get 6 weeks worth. So not too sure what the deal is with 4 months worth.
Might be worth checking it out if you actually need it for all the countries you will be in as it might save a lot of money. As im sure there are parts of South America Asia and China that you arent at risk?

dory

Last I checked not every pharmacist accepted Malarone under the scheme as it is seen as a holiday drug. But some do. Best you'll be able to do is get one month now and one in January. Might have to pay the other two. Might get the odd pharmacist who can sort out something for you and put another in under Feb and March, but it'd be a tough one to manage!

Four of a kind

tipperaryjim wrote: »

Hi Guys,

Heading off on a bit of an adventure in early January that takes in most of Africa, India, SE Asia and China. Overall, we'll be gone for about 7 months with approx 4 months of this spent within Malaria zones.

We're now looking at deciding between Doxy or Malarone for anti malarial treatment while on the road.

Obviously due to the reduced number of side effects, Malarone would be our preferred option but the big issue here is the cost. At nearly €4 a pop, it isn't long adding up!

Both myself and my girlfriend have signed up for the Drugs Payment Scheme and we were wondering if anyone knew if we can get 4 months of Malarone under this?

Having spoken with a few people, I'm a little dubious as to whether or not this is possible but any feedback here would be much appreciated

Sounds like an amazing trip. Out of curosity whats your budget for a trip like this? Flights to/from would be expensive I'm sure?

jonnybravo

tipperaryjim wrote: »

Brilliant stuff. I'll check it out.

Just out of curiosity, how much malarone did you get? A friend told me that you can get malarone under the Drugs Payment Scheme but you can only get 1 month of it. We'll be looking for 4 months.

Thanks a gain

We got 3 months worth of Malarone last summer. You can get 4 months worth but you have to pay the maximum monthly amount under the DPS for the 4 months. I can't remember what the monthly limit is but say its e200 you would then have to pay 4 months by e200 = e800.

Just to note any other drugs you get then would be free for those 4 months - for example you can get prescriptions from your doctor for mosquitoe bites, diarrhoea etc which you'll need when you're travelling but they won't cost you anything else on top of the malarone.

tipperaryjim

Four of a kind wrote: »

Sounds like an amazing trip. Out of curosity whats your budget for a trip like this? Flights to/from would be expensive I'm sure?

Hi Four of a Kind,

We're talking about a €6,000 - €7,000 budget for the trip. Managed to get a pretty decent deal on the flights. Flying Dublin - London - Nairobi. Then Jo'burg to Mumbai. Mumbai - Bangkok and then Beijing back to Dublin. Flights came to just over €1,000. Just got lucky I guess!

We're using this crowd for our trip through Africa: www.oasisoverland.co.uk

tipperaryjim

jonnybravo wrote: »

We got 3 months worth of Malarone last summer. You can get 4 months worth but you have to pay the maximum monthly amount under the DPS for the 4 months. I can't remember what the monthly limit is but say its e200 you would then have to pay 4 months by e200 = e800.

Just to note any other drugs you get then would be free for those 4 months - for example you can get prescriptions from your doctor for mosquitoe bites, diarrhoea etc which you'll need when you're travelling but they won't cost you anything else on top of the malarone.

Cheers jonnybravo!

We called to a few pharmacists last night and most of them reiterated what you experienced above. We did however find one who is willing to give us the 4 months under the scheme for one payment of €120 (ish...).

Gotta call back this evening to pick them up!

Civilian_Target

Officially you are not entitled to Malerone under the DPS. There is no reason why you would require Malerone unless you're going on holidays.

Honestly though, anti-malarials are pretty harsh drugs on your system overall... and Malerone's a heavy one. I can't see any reason why you would take 4 months of it!

DotOrg

Civilian_Target wrote: »

Officially you are not entitled to Malerone under the DPS. There is no reason why you would require Malerone unless you're going on holidays.

Malarone is covered by the HSE under the drugs payment scheme. Anyone with a PPS number is able to get 31 days supply for the limit which is €120

so if one was prescribed 4 months, they'd end up paying €480

if the pharmacy puts through 120 tablets under one month, they would not be reimbursed for that extra cost.

also remember, that any other medicines you required for travelling would also fall under the scheme, so you could get your motilium, imodium, the pill, asthma medication, infected insect bite cream, etc all covered under each €120 that you pay per month

And people do need Malarone for more than just holidays, many people travel to malarial zones for work purposes too.

Odats

Well Tipperary Jim I'm just back from Nairobi about two weeks now and was out there for 3 and half months. I foolishly took the doctors advise over here and got the Malarone tablets here which came to 500 euro for the course of the supply about 100 days. However, I lost some and had to buy them out there.
They are called Malanil (made by GSK exactly the same dosage wise and packaged the same but just different name) over the counter in any pharmacy. They work out around 2,040 KES around 20 euro for 12 so it's roughly 100 euro for 2 months supply.
My advise would be to get enough to start your course here and then buy over there. Just don't get caught on muzungo prices:D

PS Try and get to the Masai Mara fantastic I stayed at Fairmont Safari Club there and was incredible. I was out doing charity work so got to see more off the beaten track area.

MooShop

DotOrg wrote: »

Malarone is covered by the HSE under the drugs payment scheme. Anyone with a PPS number is able to get 31 days supply for the limit which is €120

so if one was prescribed 4 months, they'd end up paying €480

if the pharmacy puts through 120 tablets under one month, they would not be reimbursed for that extra cost.

Yes this is true. I went travelling in 2010 and was going to go with Malarone but could only get a month under the scheme as I left it too late, so in the end with a recommendation from the pharmacist I went with Doxy. Ended up costing around €80-90, can't fully remember for 4 months supply.

I found Doxy fine, only real side effect I had was a sick stomach for around an hour, but that only happened if I took it on an empty stomach. When I took it during or after eating then it was fine.

You probably won't need any in SE Asia only unless your really going rural and way out into the jungle for extended periods. Most parts of China are fine too unless your going west or parts of North.

I Loved China, it was amazing. Enjoy your trip, it sounds amazing, wish I was going again!!!

coldpaw

I could only get a month of malarone on the DPS before i left the country. You also cannot get Malarone in India at all. But you can get Doxy for about 30cents for ten tablets, one a day. No side effects except when i took it on empty stomach. Enjoy India and make sure to visit Hampi

Up-n-atom!

I got 3 months of malarone - didn't quite get it all for one month under the drugs payments scheme, but did get a significant discount, plus got some extra money refunded at the end of the year because they'd overcharged me a little. Anyhews, I ended up coming home with over a month's worth of malarone (I got a bug from the water so didn't bother stopping and starting on it again) and was wondering what I should do with it - I know some places in SE Asia where you could donate it for use by locals but I was gone by those places before I knew how much I'd have left!

Four of a kind

tipperaryjim wrote: »

Hi Four of a Kind,

We're talking about a €6,000 - €7,000 budget for the trip. Managed to get a pretty decent deal on the flights. Flying Dublin - London - Nairobi. Then Jo'burg to Mumbai. Mumbai - Bangkok and then Beijing back to Dublin. Flights came to just over €1,000. Just got lucky I guess!

We're using this crowd for our trip through Africa: www.oasisoverland.co.uk

:eek: Thats pretty sweet for sure!! Did you book them all yourself or get someone like trailfinders to sort them?

shuffles03

Have a quick question about Malarone under the DPS. Myself and my partner need 60 tablets each which works out at €240 each. Our gp told us to join the DPS. We're living together but not married but he said to just fill it out so the two of us are under the same scheme and send it in and don't say anything and we'll just have to pay €120 each. He said that if you find a nice chemist they'll usually give you 2 months supply of the tablet even though they're only supposed to give you one month.

I filled out the DPS form and handed it in and then rang the local chemist. They said they'd give us the 60 tablets each this month but as the cap under the DPS is €120 a month we'll have to pay €240 (which is the full price) but as we're under the same scheme the cost will be split between the two of us so €120 each.

has anyone done this? It seems wrong but the gp said everyone does it.