The shortage of licensed pharmacists puts drug retailing in a difficult situation

At present, there are 420,000 pharmaceutical retail companies in China. The number of licensed pharmacists registered nationwide is only 80,000.

If the pharmacy staff is still like a grocery store, it will not work. Li Guoqing, director of the Department of Drug Safety Supervision of the State Food and Drug Administration, said in Beijing on the 19th.

The newly revised “Pharmaceutical Business Quality Management Regulations” issued on that day stipulates that the legal representative or the person in charge of a pharmaceutical retail company shall have the qualification of a licensed pharmacist; an enterprise shall be equipped with a licensed pharmacist in accordance with the relevant regulations of the country to be responsible for the review of prescriptions and to guide the rational use of drugs. In short, in the future, pharmacies cannot be opened without licensed pharmacists.

"There are 2 million drug bugs in China (personal agents in the middle of medical marketing), why do many people do not want to pharmacist pharmacists?" Li Guoqing said that the current practice of pharmacists is not attractive, and the entry threshold is too high. The positioning of the functions is not clear and the salary is very low.

The newly revised "Pharmaceutical Business Quality Management Practice" to be implemented on June 1, 2013 will impose mandatory regulations on the use of licensed pharmacists in pharmaceutical retail enterprises. Li Guoqing believes that this is conducive to enhancing the attractiveness of this industry. "When there is no licensed pharmacist to open a pharmacy, the value of a licensed pharmacist must be more than RMB 2,000," said Li Guoqing.

According to the analysis, after the implementation of the new version of the standard, the impact of a serious shortage of licensed pharmacists will become increasingly apparent. Li Guoqing frankly stated that after the implementation of the new regulations, some retail pharmacies may not be able to start business because of lack of licensed pharmacists in a short period of time. However, this does not affect the availability and convenience of the people's medication.

Undoubtedly, in order to ensure the safe use of drugs by the people, China will have to get rid of the serious shortage of licensed pharmacists in the future. As Li Guoqing puts it: "To sell drugs is not the same as selling department stores. If you don't even know the basic knowledge of pharmacy, there will be no great risks."