The number of pharmacies is falling faster and faster - protests started in northern Germany
13.11.2023 18:40
The number of pharmacies in Germany is declining at an ever-increasing rate. With 17,733 pharmacies, a new historic low was reached at the end of the third quarter of 2023 (end of 2022: 18,068). There have not been fewer pharmacies for 44 years (1979: 17,296 pharmacies). The decline in the first nine months of 2023 with 335 closures is also higher than in the comparable period of 2022 with 285 closures.
Once again, not only main and individual pharmacies had to close (minus 308), but also branch pharmacies (minus 27). This is shown by calculations by the ABDA – Federal Association of German Pharmacists Associations.
“The supply of medicines to people is still secured between the Baltic Sea and the Alps, but the decline in the number of pharmacies is worrying,” says ABDA President Gabriele Regina Overwiening: “The economic pressure on pharmacies is increasing. Due to delivery bottlenecks, staff shortages and inadequate remuneration, the situation in pharmacies is extremely tense. Politicians have now recognized the problem, but are still not taking action. Quite the opposite: Instead of stabilizing the system, the traffic light coalition recently even cut pharmacy remuneration, which was frozen at the 2004 level. And it gets even worse: Health Minister Lauterbach now wants to establish pharmacies without emergency services and without their own drug production. According to these destructive plans, there should also be pharmacies without pharmacists. With all-day closures and central rallies in November, the pharmacists are calling on the federal government to stabilize pharmacies economically instead of promoting a two-tier pharmacy system with service cuts.”
After an all-day nationwide protest on June 14th and closures lasting several hours on September 27th, pharmacies in one of four regions will close on Wednesdays in November. Northern Germany (Bremen, Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony) began on November 8th. West Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Hesse) follows on November 15th. Then comes southern Germany (Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg) on November 22nd. Eastern Germany (Brandenburg, Berlin, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Saxony) concludes on November 29th. Emergency pharmacies ensure the supply of medicines on all protest days. There will also be a central rally in each of the four regions where pharmacy teams will gather to loudly protest.