AFTER an almost five-year run, Mildura's only 24/7 pharmacy service is set to close this Monday.
Chemist Warehouse managing partner Eric Oguzkaya said the Langtree Avenue pharmacy will stop offering its 24/7 service on Monday morning due to a "lack of replenishment of staff" after the pharmacy lost five of its 14 pharmacists in the past six months.
From Monday, pharmacists will work from 7am to 11pm, while the nursing service, which does not require a Medicare card, will continue as per normal from 6pm to 10pm.
Mr Oguzkaya said his pharmacists had left to start families, retire, or study medicine and he had struggled to find replacements due to COVID.
He said that post-COVID, fewer pharmacist interns were travelling from Melbourne and Sydney and border closures had closed off the supply of overseas pharmacists.
"We've been trying for literally years to get more pharmacists to come to Mildura," he said of the attempt to keep the service, which began in June 2017, open.
"We've been trying to source from our Chemist Warehouse partners in Melbourne. We had two people come up to give us a hand. (But) they've had to go back earlier than expected. (That) put the nail in the coffin."
Mr Oguzkaya said a decline in his staff numbers meant Chemist Warehouse would also phase out delivering flu and COVID vaccines.
"In the past two years, we offered thousands and thousands of flu and COVID vaccines," he said. "(But) moving forward, we're not going to offer that service anymore."
The change in vaccine delivery was effective immediately.
Although he did not rule out a return of the service, he said it would take at least a year for his seven interns to take on full pharmacist duties and it would depend on whether some would be able to stay on in Mildura.
There are 20 overnight pharmacy services in Victoria, while seven are operated by Chemist Warehouse. Mr Oguzkaya said he expected Mildura would not be the last to end the service.
"Shepperton is facing the same dilemma that we're facing," he said.
The next closest 24/7 pharmacy is in Bendigo.
He said over the years the service had received different visitors such as patients discharged from hospital, visitors during tourist events, and even his own family.
"My wife the other night said, 'Did you get the nappies?' and I said, 'I forgot to get nappies'. So, in the middle of night, she raced in, got some nappies and Panadol."