The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 277 No 7423 p482
21 October 2006

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· Pfizer products (3)
· Prescribing
· Sugar-free medicines
· Drug misuse
· Pharmacy in Spain
· Pharmacy ownership (2)
· The Society (3)
· Superdrug
· Hiccups

Letters to the Editor

Pharmacy in Spain

Rights as EU citizens are restricted

From Mr R. M. Moreno-Davila, MRPharmS

As has been reported (PJ, 8 July, p39) the EU has asked the Spanish Government to review its laws relating to pharmacy. This news was received with enthusiasm by my Spanish colleagues working in the UK.

Pharmacists who do not already own pharmacies in Spain find it well nigh impossible to get a licence for a new pharmacy; only a few new licences are issued each year and they are assigned to those with more “merits”, one of which is the length of time a pharmacist has been a pharmacy owner. There have been cases of retired pharmacists obtaining a licence and then selling it to another pharmacist for hundreds of thousand euros, or passing it to a family member.

It is time to change the obsolete laws in Spain to make Europe fair, with equal opportunities for each and every European citizen. It is time to start writing to EU representatives. There are groups of Spanish pharmacists doing so already and other Europeans should do the same. British pharmacists may not consider this to be important, but they should remember that it is their rights, too, as European citizens that are being restricted.

Ricardo Martinez Moreno-Davila
Burton upon Trent, Derbyshire

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