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"This freebie policy has led to a perception that medicines cost nothing, resulting in increased waste in the medicines budget," he said. "The truth is that there is no such thing as a free prescription."

Doctors insisted that free prescriptions were an important way of ensuring equality for patients in Wales, and blamed the increase on the ageing population and rising levels of chronic disease.

Of the drugs prescribed last year in Wales, 23 million were for cardiovascular conditions – an increase of 67 per cent from a decade ago.

Kirsty Williams, leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, said the policy should remain but accepted that more must be done to reduce the "staggering amount" of waste.

"With an ageing population it makes sense that the number of prescriptions would rise," she said.

"However, we also know that every year around £50m of unused prescriptions are being wasted. That is a staggering amount of money that our NHS clearly needs.

"It is essential that the Welsh Labour Government works to develop a scheme with community pharmacists to cut back on this wastage."

A Welsh Government spokeswoman said: "There is no link between the number of prescriptions per head and prescription charges. Wales has dispensed more prescription per head than England since as far back as 1973.

"The number of prescription items dispensed increased by 20 per cent in Wales between 2007 and 2012, and by 26 per cent in England over the same period."

Edited for telegraph.co.uk by Nick Collins