DOCTORS at a high-profile Liverpool conference said charging for medicine is an “unfair tax on illness” and must be abolished.

Medics at the British Medical Association (BMA) annual conference voted overwhelmingly for the Government to scrap the fees.

The prescription charge in England is £7.20 per item.

The charge is being phased out in Northern Ireland and Scotland, and medicine is already free in Wales.

Doctors at the conference, held at the BT convention centre, voted for England to follow the example of the rest of the UK. Dr Shaukat Ali proposed the motion and said the charges were unjust.

He said patients who could not afford all the drugs on their prescription sometimes only bought one, which was “potentially harmful”.

He told the conference: “They say ‘Doctor, I can’t afford to pay this prescription charge, so which one should I have?’.”

Currently, 88% of all prescriptions in England qualify to be dispensed free of charge.

Dr Ali, who works in Greenwich and Bexley, in south-east London, said: “Why should the remaining 12% pay the full charge?”

Dr Hal Maxwell spoke against the motion. The GP, from Ayrshire in Scotland, said some patients asked their GP for aspirin and paracetamol even though they can be bought easily and cheaply over the counter.