Bitter pill for pharmacists
Many French pharmacists are falling on hard times after a year of falling revenues. Those most affected are in rural or semi-rural areas, where there is a growing shortage of doctors willing to set up practice or where resident GPs are leaving for the more populous towns.
EH correspondent Keith Halson
In one central region of the country, pharmacists reported a drop in sales of almost 7% in 2006. Delegates at a recent regional conference complained: ‘What is the point of having a pharmacy in a village where there is no doctor? Local people have to travel to the nearest town to seek medical attention, so naturally they also buy their medicines there.’
A change in prescribing practice has also hit pharmacists’ profits. They are now required to supply at least 74% of medicines in generic form rather than those made by brand-name drugs companies.
08.03.2007
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