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Expansion of the medical pharmacies would bring 400 additional panel doctors. “The biggest problems might be alleviated in one fell swoop,” says ÖÄK Vice President Edgar Wutscher.

Vienna (OTS) – “The best service for patients, good for the climate, economically viable for pharmacies and also a benefit for our healthcare system – these are medical pharmacies. This has now been confirmed once more by a study,” says Edgar Wutscher, Vice President of the Austrian Medical Association and Federal Curia Chairman for resident doctors. The result of a study by the consultant network Kreutzer Fischer und Partner, which was presented at a press conference today, might bring 400 new panel doctors. “That would alleviate the most pressing problems in one fell swoop,” says Wutscher. 300 cash registers are currently vacant, Chancellor Karl Nehammer recently called for 100 additional cash registers this year.

“The way to do this would be very simple – with the abolition of the six-kilometer limit that regulates the distance between public pharmacies and medical pharmacies, positions for panel doctors, especially in rural areas, will suddenly become more attractive and we can close the biggest gaps.” If health policy gives priority to an easily available supply of medicines and patient convenience over securing the stock of public pharmacies, which is questionable under competition law, there is no way around liberalizing the pharmacy market, according to the study author Andreas Kreutzer, who considers an expansion of medical pharmacies by 570 locations for public pharmacies to be economical classified as manageable.

Wutscher was irritated by the reaction of the Chamber of Pharmacists: “It is extremely unfortunate that they are stuck with the usual defense mechanisms and prefer to try to discredit the study instead of working constructively on optimal patient care.” A minimal demand to make a contribution to the interests of the patients immediately triggers a biting reflex, Wutscher regrets: “Patients, who in the country sometimes have to walk up to 50 kilometers to the nearest open pharmacy, have to pay for this protection of antiquated sinecures Wutscher sees the reaction of Health Minister Johannes Rauch, according to which the demand for an expansion of medicine cabinets put a smile on his face, as positive: “After all, the minister was very open to these approaches not too long ago.”

Fair and modern coexistence between public pharmacies and medical pharmacies

“After the Federal Competition Authority, we now have another voice that is clearly in favor of liberalizing the pharmacy market,” emphasizes Silvester Hutgrabner, head of the department for home pharmacies and drug matters in the Austrian Medical Association: “Apart from individual sensitivities due to financial interests, there are simply none There are more arguments for allowing the antiquated territorial protection of public pharmacies to continue.” In the 21st century, patients can no longer be expected to travel pointless kilometers to get their medication. “Population, climate, health care – everyone would thank politicians if they finally allowed a fair and modern coexistence between public pharmacies and medical pharmacies,” appealed Hutgrabner: “We can no longer look on as the current regulation is being used by the Pharmacists are being more and more exhausted and medicine cabinet following medicine cabinet has to be closed,” appeals Hutgrabner. This sets in motion a fatal negative spiral for the community. The search for a doctor would be much more difficult without a medicine chest, in some cases there would be a risk of moving out of the village, which would have serious consequences, ultimately for the pharmacies themselves, “because if nobody is there to prescribe medicines, then nobody can sell – the result is a zero-doctor community with a declining population and a loss-making pharmacy,” says Hutgrabner.

“Diagnosis and therapy from a single source” – that must be the goal, Wutscher spoke out in favor of a right to dispense for all doctors. Due to the current gaps in the field of statutory health insurance, it is urgently necessary to provide new impetus in order to improve the situation once more. “We know from internal surveys that a significant proportion of doctors of choice would accept a health insurance contract if the general conditions were right,” emphasizes Wutscher.

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Austrian Medical Association
Mag. Sascha Bunda
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