They say laughter is the best medicine, but the prices of actual medicines and health products are enough to make anyone cry.

According to Business Tech, these products fall under the category of the most expensive items on a shopping list. With the recent 15% VAT increase, these already-pricey pharmaceuticals have become a whole lot pricier.

Even over-the-counter (OTC) medicines will cost you an arm and a leg, and probably your other arm and leg as well.

On the other hand, privately-owned pharmacies – along with companies like Dischem and Clicks, and local grocery stores like Pick n Pay – have made dispensaries available to the public, in addition to carrying OTC medical aids.

Pick n Pay has an in-store pharmacy installed in 31 stores across South Africa, but Shoprite and Checkers beats them out, owning over 140 MediRite Pharmacies in stores nationwide. Even Spar has joined in on the fun, with their pharmacies found in select Spar locations.

So who’s the best of the bunch, i.e. offers the lowest prices?

Business Tech shopped around for 10 common OTC items – ranging from MedLemon to Panado – at these stores, and this is what they found out:

Dischem is the cheapest, with Spar being the priciest of the lot (48 bucks for Vicks Vaporub, geez …), followed closely by Pick n Pay.

In spite of the VAT increase, Checkers Medirite saw a big decrease between 2017 and 2018. Meanwhile, Spar’s basket has increased by nearly 10%.

Still, it looks like Dischem has come out on top in this pharmacy war.