The British Medical Association (BMA) has dropped an arrangement with a wine club that offered doctors discount drink despite the organisation backing minimum pricing of alcohol.
Under fire: A British Medical Association building (Photo: Wiki)
Scotland on Sunday reports that the BMA has “formally dissolved its links” with the Charles Hastings Wine Club, set up for the UK medical profession.
BMA will no longer promote membership to the club – which gives savings on web orders for wines as well as trips to distilleries and wine tastings.
The club logo, which featured on the BMA website, has also been removed.
The organisation, which represents doctors in the UK as a trade union, had faced claims of hypocrisy due to its backing of the controversial minimum alcohol pricing legislation, aimed at outlawing bargain booze.
Last night Tory MSP Alex Johnstone told the newspaper: “Perhaps members of the medical profession will now have to find more ingenious ways of getting access to cheaper alcohol.
“The decision demonstrates a degree of consistency, given what the BMA has been saying on minimum unit pricing,” he continued.
“As long as the BMA doesn’t pry into the lives of its members, I’m happy for them to take this action.”
Labour’s Scottish health spokesman Richard Simpson, a former GP, also welcomed the decision. He said: “This is a sensible move and it’s welcome that the BMA has realised that its association with the wine club was not totally appropriate.”
