Alex Tam defies losing PharmaCare by paying for prescriptions himself
Vancouver's embattled Eastside Pharmacy is still filling clients' prescriptions despite having no provincial coverage to help pay for the drugs.
On Saturday, the pharmacy was kicked out of the province's PharmaCare program, meaning it won't be reimbursed for the medicine it supplies to patients.
"My patients are my first priority," said owner Alex Tam. "I will not ask them to pay because they do not have enough money. I will not turn my back to them."
Since July 2014, the province has not enrolled more than two dozen pharmacies in the program because of alleged violations.
$1 million in questionable claims
The province says Eastside Pharmacy Ltd. is losing its licence because of more than $1 million in invalid or ineligible PharmaCare claims.
Tam claims he has been unfairly caught up in the crackdown and insists his billing errors were clerical mistakes, which have now been fixed.
"I acknowledge that, because at that time I was short-staffed. My staff was not well-trained, and I'm a one-man band," he said.
He's filed a challenge in B.C. Supreme Court arguing that he should keep his licence to help the Downtown Eastside's vulnerable population.
Now he's simply pushing ahead in serving those clients despite not having any coverage.
Most difficult patients
"They mean a lot to me because I like to see them happy." he said. "I like to practice excessive happiness and excessive compassion."
People in the neighbourhood say the pharmacy provides the best service and is the only real and viable option for them.
"He sees the most difficult patients," said Susan Giles, a registered nurse. "The ones that pharmacies, other pharmacies don't want to have. He will see them and make a success of it."
"I don't know what I would do without Alex. He is a wonderful person," added Ruby Mountain-Gladue, a client at Eastside Pharmacy.
Tam says he will cover PharmaCare's portion of the drugs out of his own budget for as long as he can.
Eastside Pharmacy Ltd. employs 10 people and has more than 800 clients, 250 of whom have HIV.
