Bureaucracy, a lack of skilled workers, too little money – the pharmacists in Saxony-Anhalt complain about poor conditions for their work. An action in Colbitz should draw attention to this on Thursday.
Colbitz/Magdeburg (dpa/sa) – In Saxony-Anhalt, 41 pharmacies have been closed in the past five years. In the same period between 2017 and 2021, only eleven new pharmacies were opened. The Saxony-Anhalt Chamber of Pharmacists provided these figures on request. According to the information, there are currently 567 pharmacies in the country.
The bureaucratic and economic framework conditions have steadily deteriorated over the past few years, said the President of the Saxony-Anhalt Chamber of Pharmacists, Jens-Andreas Münch. There is also a significant staff shortage. According to Münch, there is currently no threat to the security of the supply of medicines. However, the supply has to be spread over fewer and fewer shoulders.
The pharmacist Anne-Kathrin Haus wants to draw attention to the challenges on Thursday in Colbitz (Börde district) with a “pharmacy day of mourning”. She has been running her pharmacy for a good five years and assumes that the declining number of pharmacies will have an impact particularly in rural areas. “The paths are getting longer,” she told the German Press Agency.
Anne-Kathrin Haus criticized that the federal government and the health insurance company would save at the expense of the pharmacies. A change of course is necessary. “The job has to become more attractive. We need more money to be able to pay employees better.” The day of action was intended to raise people’s awareness “that pharmacies are not doing well”.
