Risen from the wheels

The State Duma wants to revive mobile pharmacies

Mobile pharmacies, of which there were so many in the middle of the last decade, may soon appear on Russian streets and roads. Not only will they return, but they will have the same powers as brick-and-mortar pharmacies.

Yesterday, Olga Borzova, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Health Protection, said that a bill designed to give a second life to the sale of medicines on wheels is almost ready. “This concerns, first of all, ensuring equal access to effective and high-quality medicines for all segments of the population for outpatient and inpatient treatment,” explained Ms. Borzova. According to legislators, this is the only way to solve the problem of providing medicine to citizens living in remote villages and unable to get to a real pharmacy.

The idea is very humane, but divorced from life and market reality - both independent experts and government officials show rare unanimity in assessing this parliamentary initiative. After all, such a type of activity as the mobile sale of medicines is currently not recorded in any federal law and, as a result, is not licensed. With the exception of a few regions where local authorities themselves agreed with one or another commercial pharmacy organization on outbound sales, this type of activity is, in fact, illegal in the country at the moment. Such experience exists, for example, in the Astrakhan and Sverdlovsk regions. But even where pharmacies on wheels officially exist, they are allowed to sell exclusively over-the-counter drugs. Of course, no one will travel around villages with such a “minor” product - the cost of gasoline will cover the revenue. The new law, judging by what became known yesterday, is precisely supposed to solve this problem and give businesses the opportunity to make money from outbound trade. That is, cancel all or almost all assortment restrictions.

“They will be allowed not only to work officially, but also to dispense subsidized drugs, prescription drugs, drugs in ampoules,” Alexander Kuzin, general director of the marketing agency DSM Group, told Vremya Novostey. - This, of course, will increase the attractiveness of this sales method for pharmacy organizations. But it’s not a fact that they will immediately go to the villages.” According to Mr. Kuzin, having given new rights to pharmacies on wheels, it will not be possible to determine the scope of their responsibilities. So there will be “Gazelles”, converted into pharmacies (these are several shelves and a window for dispensing goods), on busy highways and in small towns.

The quality of medicines that will be sold at such points is also highly questionable. “There are no stationary refrigerators or sanitary conditions for the pharmacist in such trailers,” notes the head of the DSM Group. “We don’t even monitor this segment of the market, let alone the fact that regulatory authorities simply do not have the ability to inspect mobile pharmacies,” David Melik-Guseinov, director of marketing research at Pharmexpert, agrees with his colleague. The fact that the topic of allowing trade from wheels was repeatedly raised, but no way to fulfill the control function was invented, was confirmed by Vremya Novostey’s source in the Federal Service for Surveillance in Healthcare and Social Development (Roszdravnadzor).

And the Ministry of Health and Social Development was even a little offended that the deputies completely ignored the fact that the delivery of medicines to hard-to-reach regions by paramedics is actively developing in the regions. “The issue of ensuring equal access to medicines for rural residents is being resolved at the regional level, primarily through the opening of pharmacies at feldsher-midwife stations (FAP), as well as at general medical practice (GP) offices. And if this is not possible, medical workers can deliver medicines to residents of rural areas on the basis of an agreement concluded with a pharmacy. This practice is being implemented in many regions,” the Ministry of Health and Social Development, where they have not yet seen the new law, explained to Vremya Novostey.

Galina PAPERNAYA