E-drug: Liberalisation in the Netherlands - few positive effects
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Dear e-druggers,
In a recent research (1) done at the Netherlands School of Public Health
was concluded that market liberalisation for drug provision in the
Netherlands (2) has not resulted in many positive effects.
Although drug provision in the Netherlands is relatively not a high
expenditure item on the health budget list, costs rose relatively more
during the last decades. A new policy instrument of the Dutch government
was since 1994 strongly promoting competition in drug provision and thus
trying to reduce the drug budget. This policy was not successful and has
even resulted in some minor negative effects, like: transfer-costs of
pharmacies have risen, buying of individual pharmacies (3) by
wholesalers (and thus creating, more monopolised, pharmacy-chains).
Greetings,
Mark Raijmakers
Notes and more background information:
(1) Final research of an education in Master in Public Health at the
Netherlands School of Public Health in Utrecht, The Netherlands. The
report, in Dutch, is to be ordered at Amicon Zorgverzekeraar, tel.
+31-317-455240 (author H.J. Gerritsen).
(2) General characteristics of drug provision in the Netherlands
(compared to other European countries) are: low use of drugs, low costs,
large pharmacies, low number of pharmacists and high quality provision.
(3) The pharmacy-system in the Netherlands still characterises itself by
its small-scale highly personalised one- or two pharmacists'
entrepreneur-ship.