I was pleased to read on the front page of The Daily Illini’s Nov. 16 edition that Schnuck’s has inaugurated a free antibiotic prescription program. It’s far from the comprehensive health care reform that our country needs, but it’s a compassionate private initiative. However (and not to detract from Schnuck’s new policy), I believe that Schnuck’s is not the “first store in the region to launch a free prescription antibiotic program…”

A similar program has been in effect at Meijer and Wal-Mart for some time now, and I’ve been informing my patients of it whenever appropriate. The Meijer and Wal-Mart programs do not offer as wide a range of antibiotics (“54… from seven different drug families”), but they do offer one treatment course at a time (renewable) of the most commonly prescribed antibiotics, which, by and large, covers the needs of most patients.

Kudos to all three of these businesses for contributing to the well-being of our community.

Chana Bursztyn, M.D.

Champaign