Next week, many pharmacists in Germany want to protest against the health policy of the past few years and close their shops for one day. The preparations are ongoing. In the windows of the Apothekerhaus in Berlin, headquarters of the industry lobby Abda, there has been a film for weeks with the inscription “Save pharmacies broken? Not with us!” The Federal Ministry of Health (BMG) is also preparing for the protests on June 14th. The press office sent a “fact sheet” to journalists on Monday, which really got Abda President Gabriele Regina Overwiening going.
“In the so-called fact sheet,” said the pharmacist on Tuesday in Berlin, “no distinction was made between turnover, sales and earnings.” And that’s not the first time. Working with numbers like that is nonsensical. Overwiening probably doesn’t want to be rude, she assumes that this isn’t done out of ignorance. The “fact sheet” states that pharmacists have earned above-average earnings in recent years. The BMG cites sales figures as proof of the earnings. “If sales are good, that doesn’t mean that earnings are good,” says Overwiening. She refers, for example, to the increased personnel costs, the higher energy costs, inflation and the effort to cope with the growing supply bottlenecks. “They keep us busy for several hours a day.” The additional effort will not be reimbursed.
Abda President Gabriele Regina Overwiening is worried about the supply of medicines.
(Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa)
The supply of medicines through the public pharmacies still works “very well and nationwide in all corners of the republic and at all times,” says Overwiening. But her words always resonate with the fact that it doesn’t have to stay that way. The number of pharmacies is falling. In the first quarter of 2023, it fell to 17,939. “A pharmacy is currently closing every 17 hours.” The economic situation is deteriorating because of a “health policy that is only geared towards savings”. Example: The increase in the pharmacy discount from 1.77 to two euros per pack of a prescription drug. The community pharmacy system is underfunded. Non-monetary factors, such as security of supply, are not sufficiently taken into account. According to Overwiening, the value-added share of the pharmacies in the total expenditure of the statutory health insurance companies, based on the reimbursement under the Drug Price Ordinance, was a “puny” two percent in 2022.
“We let the pharmacies perish with our eyes open,” says Ina Lucas. She and her business partner run four pharmacies in Berlin. She is a co-initiator of the “Against future theft” initiative, which officially starts this Wednesday. Lucas employs around 80 people, she would also have work for 100. But the market was empty. The staff migrate to industry or to the health insurance companies. “No pharmacy can pay the wages of industry and cash registers,” says Lucas. One thing is clear for the two pharmacists: they will take part in the protest next week.