A year ago, four regional health agencies (those of Ile-de-France, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, Lorraine and Limousin) launched an appeal to find a hundred pharmacies willing to sell certain drugs to unity. Among these pharmacies, 25 were to act as a control and 75 were to sell 14 antibiotics and their generics (ie around 30 different drugs) to the unit. Aim of the experiment: to fight against the overconsumption of antibiotics, which kills 13,000 per year in France, and to save health insurance funds.
But after a year of experience, the 75 pharmacists show little enthusiasm. Their complaints:
– Lack of traceability: they sell drugs without a box and therefore without an “essential” batch number to warn patients in the event of a problem;
– Difficulties in stock management with incomplete packaging;
– The risks of errors with the artisanal manipulation of drugs.
“But above all, the time spent with patients was never taken into account in the study”, laments the secretary general of the National Union of Pharmacies of France (UNPF), Eric Myon, showing the six pages of the form that customers must read and sign.
