Bargain-hunting pensioners have to juggle many tasks. Calling pharmacies to compare prices is one less thing.
Part of being older is having a longer list of medicines you buy each month.
This pharmacy comparison focuses on medication, vitamins and prescriptions from two of the country’s largest retail pharmacies: Clicks and Dischem.
Which is cheaper?
While this analysis focuses on full-priced products, promotions can lower the cost.
At Clicks, prices can decrease when you buy more of an item, especially on supplements.
Dischem routinely offers lower prices (typically 10%) to members of their Better Rewards program.
In this comparison, Dischem is 80 cents cheaper overall than Clicks on over-the-counter (OTC) medications.
MedicationClicksDischemParacetamol 500mgClicks 24 tablets R25.99Dischem 20 tablets R25.99Brufen extra strength 10 tabletsR50.99R49.99Dispirin regular strength 300mg 12 tabletsR27.99 R29.99Sinucon 20 tabletsR44.99R43.99Dazit 5mg 10 tabletsR94.99R88.99
Clicks has two house brands.
The first is the Clicks brand; the second is the Payless brand.
Dischem likewise has two house brands: Dischem Gold and Lifestyle.
According to this analysis of 5 common vitamins and supplements, Clicks is more cost-effective than Dischem.
Vitamins from their house brand are 22% cheaper than the cheapest option at Dischem.
SupplementClicksDischemVitamin C 500mg 100 tabletsClicks R69.99Lifestyle R84.99Calcium 30 tabletsPayless R51.99Zinplex chewable R63.99Vitamin B12 60 tabletsClicks Essentials R160Biogen or Gold R149.99Multivitamin 30 tabletsPayless R39.99Lifestyle (capsules) R109.99Vitamin D 1000iu 30 tabletsPayless R47.99Lifestyle R139.99
The focus was on heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes, and the commonly prescribed medications for these illnesses.
One in three South Africans has hypertension, according to reporting by the University of Cape Town (UCT).
And according to the University of Pretoria (UP), one in nine South African adults has type 2 diabetes.
These are the prices of the cheapest generic brands quoted by Dischem and Clicks pharmacists.
In three of the four generic brands, prices are almost identical.
Amlodipine is the only exception.
The generic at Clicks is 20% cheaper than Dischem.
Medication (30 tablets)ClicksDischemAtorvastatin 10mgR42.00R42.06Amlodipine 5mgR60.00R74.22Lisinopril 5mgR39.30R39.58Glimiperide 1mgR100.00R100.31
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