More than 120 pharmacies have closed their doors permanently in the first three months of the year in Germany alone.
According to foreign media, the Telegraph reports, pharmacies have been closing at an alarming rate in recent years in Germany, with more than 120 stores closed in the first three months of the year alone, according to data from the Federal Association of German Pharmacists (ABDA). .
"We have the lowest number of pharmacies since the early 1980s at the moment," Christian Splett, a spokesman for ABDA, told the BBC. Euronews.
The number of pharmacies in the country has been declining for some time - but the decline has really accelerated over the past year.
By the end of 2022, there were just over 18,000 stores open across the country - 2,800 fewer than a decade ago, according to the FAZ newspaper.
And this is being seen as a situation that is leaving many Germans without an essential connection to the country's healthcare system, especially in rural areas, as pharmacists are often the first experts people seek for help with their problems before contacting a doctor.
"Pharmacists also fulfill a fundamental function in the health care system, which you can't measure by the amount of medicine they sell," Splett continued. "They are the first point of contact for patients who are not sure whether they should see a doctor, what medication they can take. And that is important."
Why is this happening?
According to ABDA, there are several reasons why pharmacies are closing at an unprecedented rate, but the main reason is that there seems to be little future for young pharmacists in the community pharmacy sector - a key component of the German healthcare system.
"If you ask young pharmacists, they say there is basically no economic prospect for them because the government doesn't actually want to put any money into the system," Splett told Euronews.
"But there's also a lot of bureaucracy, a lot of bureaucratic procedures when you run a pharmacy or deal with legal health insurance companies in particular that are discouraging young professionals."
This leads to the closure of many pharmacies in Germany because their 65 or 70-year-old owner cannot find a successor.
Another issue is that the private pharmaceutical industry pays its staff far more money than any community pharmacy can afford.
The health care system is strictly regulated in Germany and the income of community pharmacies is mainly determined by the costs of statutory health insurance.
"This is one of the reasons why the protests are continuing, to increase this revenue," Splett says.
But every other issue can be linked to three fundamental problems that have recently emerged in Germany: drug shortages due to increased demand and decreased supply, exacerbated by the ongoing impact of the pandemic, rising inflation and the energy crisis .
According to the official national database PharmNet.Bund, which monitors the supply of medicines in Germany, more than 400 drugs are listed as not available at all in the country.
This shortage is costing community pharmacies a significant amount of time and money, as pharmacists seek alternative ways to serve their patients.
"This time is unpaid, no one has paid for this extra time," Splett says. "And there's a lot of bureaucracy. Even if you find alternative medications, you then have to provide a lot of documentation to prove to your statutory health insurance that you chose the closest to the cheapest option available." /Telegrafi/
