E-drug: Influence of "open ownership" of retail pharmacies
----------------------------------------------------------
As previously mentioned on this list, South Africa is currently
grappling with proposed amendments to a number of laws relating to
the supply of drugs. One of these proposes to remove the requirement
that only a pharmacist may own an interest in a retail pharmacy. While
this is obviously opposed by retail pharmacists, the question is
really: will this measure improve access to drugs by increasing the
number of pharmacies or by bringing to this sector a measure of
competition and hence reduced prices? In order to inform our inputs to
the process, we would be interested to know if any other countries
have any experience of such a change, or evidence from an "open
ownership" system which indicates that we should avoid this change.
Thanks
Andy Gray
Lecturer, Pharmacy Practice
University of Durban-Westville
P Bag X54001 Durban 4000
South Africa
Tel: +27 31 2044358
Fax: +27 31 2044792
email: agray@pixie.udw.ac.za
Also: Vice-President
South African Association of Hospital and institutional Pharmacists
PO Box 70451
Overport 4067
South Africa
--
Send mail for the `E-Drug' conference to `e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.
Mail administrative requests to `majordomo@usa.healthnet.org'.
For additional assistance, send mail to: `owner-e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.