PHARMACISTS are making use of a little-known law to write medical certificates for sick workers because doctors are overrun with possible swine flu cases.
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Elermore Vale Pharmacy started issuing medical certificates last Monday after doctors at the general practice next door were unable to cope with an influx of cold and flu patients needing medical certificates.
The Pharmacy Guild of Australia said about a third of pharmacies offered certificates, including 23 in the Hunter, but there had been low demand since the laws were introduced in 2008.
Interest groups have conceded the scheme could be open to abuse but no worse than among doctors because of the pharmacist's fee of about $30.
General practitioners said yesterday the scheme was unlikely to help surgeries because the short-term certificates did not cover the three-to-seven day swine flu isolation period.
GP Access pandemic response co-ordinator Simon Gould said it would also spread the virus and instead backed a proposed telephone isolation certificate hotline.
"We've got a situation now where pregnant women are being told to work from home to avoid swine flu but they need to go to a surgery where they could be exposed to the virus to get a certificate. It's absurd."
Hunter Business Chamber executive officer Peter Shinnick said employers wanted employees to stay home if they were ill and would happily accept a certificate from a pharmacist to pay sick leave.
He said the average cost to a company for each employee who catches the flu was about $1000.
"The last thing we would want is for wholesale flu to spread through a business," he said. "But if someone's taking extended periods of sick leave, three or four days, then that would need to be backed up."
Newcastle Trades Hall secretary Gary Kennedy said employees should be asked to sign statutory declarations after they returned to work as had been done in the past.
