Dozens of pharmacists from around the province braved the cold blustery weather Thursday morning, to march to the legislature in a protest against cuts the province made to health care in the provincial budget.

Wearing their white lab coats, the pharmacists marched from the Corona LRT Station to the Legislature.

The march came after the province decided to lower the price it will pay for generic drugs, to 18 percent of the brand-name products.

“Pharmacies are going to have to sell those products at a lower cost than purchased at, that’s in the short term,” Pharmacist Jody Shkrobot said.

But it the long term, it will translate to a cut in their income, drug shortages and less time with patients – as hours might have to be cut, or some staff laid off.

“In the long term, that provides funding for pharmacies to be able to provide services to our patients,” Shkrobot said. “That’s how we pay our staff to be able to do those types of care services that aren’t necessarily related directly to dispensing the medication, but its access to the pharmacists you may have on some of the minor conditions.”

The province expects the cuts to save $90 million.

“Price reductions for generic drugs have been happening in Canada for a number of years now,” Health Minister Fred Horne said. “They’ll continue to happen, even with these reductions we are still paying well above the international price so we’ve got an obligation to make the best use of the dollars we have to buy as much of the needed drugs as we can.”

Pharmacists said they were not consulted, and the cuts will do more harm than good, and there are fears the cuts could wipe out independent pharmacies.

A number of pharmacists also closed their doors Thursday morning as part of the protest – some were expected to re-open in the afternoon, but a number of pharmacists were travelling from out of town, and their businesses would remain closed all day.

The pharmacists are also starting a petition, which they plan to present to Horne, in the hopes of discussing changes.

With files from Ashley Molnar