Yesterday, a group of private pharmacy owners started a petition called Pharmacists Speak Out!, which opposes planned changes to the law, as they feel the legislation is good for certain large businesses, but bad for patients.
They plan to collect at least 2,000 signatures before the petition is put to Parliament in September, when the changes will be discussed. The pharmacists want the government to tighten the criteria for those operating pharmacies, ensuring they have the necessary pharmacological education.
The pharmacists also want the government to prohibit companies from owning chains of pharmacies and of being able to offer loyalty rewards to customers. They feel that operators of pharmacies should be limited to owning just one pharmacy, which is common practice in other EU countries.
I thought Hemmingway Merritt was an island in Florida.
I’m thinking of changing my name too. From Hodges to the Slovak pronounced / Hogdes.
I guess we can all call you Susan , if it makes you feel better Alex Hogdes ?? 🙂
My Dear Alica S. There is not a shred of evidence to support you quite hysterical, uneducated comments in this matter . As with your kind of nutty lobbist, you make lots of unfounded, mad statements and treat them like truthful facts, we should all believe. And all because you have just convinced yourself of some conspiracy theory and never let the facts, spoil a rant or a good story . One wonders if you have been watching too many programs from the ‘X’ Files? Just because you read it in a newspaper, on the internet, or see it on TV …..just does not make it true .
I assume you currently refer to some Wikileak report and a cable sent by the United States Embassy in Bratislava and viz-a Viz Penta ? We can’t evaluate the authenticity of this cable report, but I view this matter as a mixture of nonsense, total lack of knowledge and ignorance of the facts. There are a few factual flaws in the cable, as the report mentions six reform laws in health care, but none of them dealt with the functioning of pharmacy networks via the form of franchise. The company mentioned Penta, has never done business in the sphere of franchise pharmacies in Slovakia .The accusation that Penta wanted to take control of the pharmacy market in Slovakia by liquidating small pharmacies with its own network has turned out to be utter nonsense !
Perhaps you should stop drinking so much coffee ?
https://www.thedaily.sk/2011/09/06/top-news/penta-rejects-bribery-claims-of-wikileaks-cable/
I don’t know about the wikileaks but the dangers about public health that are described in the European Court decision C-531/06 if Pharmacy Chains are allowed are well documented,
By this decision Pharmacy Chains are dead and the efforts for them to be raised from their asses are fruitless
Well, Dr. Don Hemmingway Merritt,
i don’t know what kind of doctor you are, maybe “doctor pharmacychain-spokesman” as that is what your writings show,
but,…nice try.
And that, trying to make others look like fools, because maybe there is nothing else left to try to save what now cannot be saved (hard to hide the truth, sorry),
…very cute.
I feel VERY convinsed by you. I am “A Changed Man” mr. doc.
After what I read from your efforts to speak on behalf of Pharmacychains, I wonder if pharmacychains’ payroll had only politicians’ names on…
I leave now because I am going to drink o coffee. Bye.
(P.S.: Not so surprised by what methods Pharmacychains use to mislead about common interest. That is why everybody is against them, exept of course of those who work for them or have been bribed by them.
And… NO. I am not a communist, not a hysterical person, not an extraterrestrian etc. etc.
Next time mr. doc and others, try to find something funnier. Your fantacy is in a good shape. I give you that.)
https://www.thedaily.sk/2011/09/05/top-news/wikileaks-vote-buying-for-slovak-pharmacy-chains/
Now, PharmacyChains bribe and corrupt politicians in Slovakia to make them vote for “how good Pharmacychains are”…
Well, I wonder now if anybody could find anything to blame all the people who are against the Pharmacychains.
The bad ideas need “oil” (money for bribery) to make them roll. “Free Market” and “Western-like Democracy” of now on its best…
Glad that it turns out that you don’t need to be “a communist” or something else to say NO to Pharmacychains, and to be right about it.
Where are all the “Supermarket-Pharmachains” spokesmen now I wonder…
Has anyone around here mentioned the name “lobbying” I wonder too?
Now, PharmacyChains bribe and corrupt politicians in Slovakia to make them vote for “how good Pharmacychains are”…
Well, I wonder now if anybody could find anything to blame all the people who are against the Pharmacychains.
The bad ideas need “oil” (money for bribery) to make them roll. “Free Corporate Market” of now on its best…
Glad that it turns out that you don’t need to be “a communist” or something else to say NO to Pharmacychains, and to be right about it.
Where are all the “Supermarket-Pharmachains” spokesmen now I wonder…
Has anyone around here mentioned the name “lobbying” I wonder too?
We read things like: “without supermarkets and pharmacychains life is hell…” as if in all the other countries that have no chains are hell and slovakia discovered the secret to Paradise (!), maybe we would establish a religion worshiping the HOLLY-SUPERMARKET (not suggested yet thank God),
or: “supermarkets are nice because…they don’t charge the parking” (!!) and I don’t know if I am have to feel se “grateful” that they don’t charge also… the air I breathe when I enter them,
or: “whoever does’t love big corporations and pharmacychains is a…communist or a…lobbyist-against my myths” and I wonder if I read a normal person or some USA “Tea Party Member” right-wing religious fanatic or a rich supermarket owner or somebody who works for them (lobbying is the name),
or: “with Supermarkets we have…competition” and I am confused what exactly is competition. To have some hundreds of free choices or to end up to have…1 in a giftwrap of 3-4, with some hundred of clones everywhere whith all giving you the same thing…
or: “That is the nature of competition” as if we don’t have the right to make things better in our lives and we are doomed to let everything in the hands of…Mother Nature (maybe the old communists would be very glad if they had thought that statement when THEY were strong),
or: “chains are cheaper” but it ends up to be right the opposite in the end, or you cannot find any evidence for that “statement” anywhere…
And I wonder in which Planet exactly you find things like the above or if everybody is crazy and only pharmacychain and supermarket spokesmen are reasonable…
For one thing supermarkets and chains are great: to eliminate your rights and your choices the same time you have the impression that everything is OK. You see green and they have the ability to convinse you that it is red. I give them that. It is magical “public relations” or propaganda if you prefer (but I don’t know white or black).
a few chains will do no harm. I can buy 16 ibuprofen in superdrug, tesco, sainsburys etc for 25p or even less yet here I have to buy Ibalgin and only from a chemist.
For years now, In Greece you find ibuprofen with much less than superdrug’s, tesco’s, sainsburys’ 25p (4p to be exact) because it has no Pharmacychains, and you can find an independent chemist almost in every corner. Supermarkets you can’t find in every corner.
Chains never rest in “e few” or bring prices down (only in the first few months to close the others). It is in their nature to expand by pushing others to extinction and after that to skyrocket prices. A few chains is harm, as if it is 1 or as they are a lot, in the end.
Mr. George M.,
Maybe it is convenient to give the easy label “communism” (or maybe:”extraterrestrian” or “lemurian” which sound…wow! to the naive) to everything you don’t understand or is opposite to what you believe.
According to your way of thinking, on the other hand, you sound like a left-wing USA republican millionaire, who thinks that he has to be free to make as many money with his corporations as he can for himself alone, even by pushing others to extinction or to take advantage of consumers,
and he is pissed of with everybody who speaks otherwise.
Not so “democratic”, if you ask me George M. And not so in favor for the consumers’ and patients’ interest either.
Of course you have nothing to say about high prices, about lack of competition, about lack of good paid jobs and professional choices, about lack of good personalized service and choices for the consumer, about lack of tax income for the Governement, and everything else that Pharmacychains or other big corporations bring with them,
so it is probably because you know what happens and you avoid the truth as it is against your beliefs (this is not everybody elses problem).
And of course you try hard to avoid to say what you think about nobody else allows pharmacychaains in Europe, like you don’t feel very well with reality…
Maybe that is why you keep repeating the good-al: “Big Corporation, Ole!” defending yourself, and you seem like you don’t see what is happening around you.
Nobody knows if you are just another paid lobbyist for Supermarkets or you just have fallen to their propaganda traps,
but it is a little bit suspicious that you are so familiar with lobbying, and you would wish everybody else to be like…you?
If this forum is to have some value, I suggest that you try not to defend what you personally believe but add something useful to the conversation.
All these people who are against Pharmacychains are absolutely right to everything they point. Just take a look to the Internet for yourself and see. No independent voice (not paid by corporations) finds anything good from Pharmacychains.
So, before everything else, search for yourself alone to learn something useful. The rest of Europe know mush why they don’t allow Pharmachians to operate, Hungary closes them, and so on.
So something is wrong about what you believe. Search for yourself and you will find it. I don’t want to affect you, but you also have the right to know. But you have to work it out for yourself in that matter.
George T …because you claim it that does not make it true . Where are your source of these unfounded facts ?? Of course I have nothing to say about high prices, about lack of competition, about lack of good paid jobs and professional choices, about lack of good personalised service and choices for the consumer, about lack of tax income for the Governement, and everything else that Pharmacychains or other big corporations bring with them………because it is propaganda of the small shop keeper …so he can reap a huge profit margins off the back of consumers, rather than deal with some teeth with the real cooks …the wholesalers !
BTW . When you can write a sentence , that is obviously not cut & pasted after being from spellcheck, or from cribbed from some Chemist lobby group hysterical pamphlet , get back to me , OK ?
The same goes to you George M.
You sound like the Supermarket or Pharmacychain lobbyist around here, with their propaganda in your comments.
And of course, you have presented no source to prove your claims about “how-good-are supermarkets-for-humanity” (!!). It is just your word in that (is it enough thow?).
But I suggested you make a search in the net about chains to find out for yourself, which I am think you are afraid to do because (maybe) you know you are wrong and I am right.
So, using your own words, “When you can write a sentence , that is obviously not cut & pasted after being from spellcheck, or from cribbed from some Supermarket or Pharmacychain lobby group hysterical pamphlet , get back to me , OK ?”
And in the meantime, nothing will happen to you if you make the search I suggest you (why exactly you are so afraid to do it I wonder…).
Small pharmacist-owned and operated pharmacies are more likely to provide good services in the long run. I am a fan of the independed pharmacist who is accesible and oriented toloyalpatient services.
Not sure where you we love independent Lekaren lobby guys suddenly sprung from , but read what I wrote ….Local Chemists … Cartel ….of counter pharmacy goods for too long here in Slovakia….we need the odd Boots or Superdrug just to bring them back to heel .
Maybe you mean that YOU personally need the odd Boots or Superdrug for reasons only you know. I don’ t know anyboby else exept you that falls for that trap-idea.
And as you speak for lobbying, there is an american book that has a saying: “The crow blamed the pigeon of being black”.
When everything shows that Chains is a very bad idea for everyone exept of the very few super-rich foreign or local owners, and you seem out-of-the-blue like you are the only person on Earth that you have no idea about it,
…yes, something like suspicious lobbying from Pharmacy Chains seems to happen around here. No arguing about that.
Nobody takes decisions on favor neither of the pharmacists nor of the Pharmacy Chains. It is the citizens’ and the Economy’s interest that makes Pharmacy Chains much worse and a so dangerous idea than any independent Pharmacy.
And to try to find anything against competition for the Chains (e.x. independent pharmacists), even with using false statements and mere childish slogans from nowhere, as you do, does not help the Chains to hide their real character and fool us about what they really are for Slovakia.
Nice try maybe George M but…sorrry. It is anything else but certainely it’ s not convinsing.
Nobody falls for these “Halliloua Dear God” statements for the so-called Chains. Exept he has a mere personal interest from that and he needs to “convinse” others at any cost…
Isn’ t that so George M.?
Let’s be honest, lwithout supermarkets or the big chain stores life would be hell and a pain in the arse. Thanks to their existence, what used to take all day now takes a couple of hours. Forty years ago, ( 10 years ago in Slovakia ! ) by the time you had walked up and down the high street, visited a host of stores, queued at counters and checkouts and then trekked back home with as many bags as you could carry, the day was more or less over. And stores only opened nine to five 5 days a week and to noon Saturday .
Now, responding to consumers, not to the social hours needs of Ma & Pa shops , Chains operate extended opening hours and trade on Sundays. The number of lines stocked has also increased out of all recognition. Supermarkets now offer the choice of product lines, everything from economy to niche products and at very competitive prices; they provide free car-parking and a number of other facilities such as financial services. They also sell a superb range of own labels, and offer home deliveries and internet shopping.
Oh I hear year say , what about consumers who exist beyond the rosy glow of the supermarket , those who have no car, who are not on the internet, who live in a cash economy, whose shopping budgets are too small to qualify for home deliveries, who need their local shop for social contact and conversation. For this many Shops are either testing or already running a number of initiatives to ensure that shoppers who live on estates can get to stores easily or opening local Express shops There are bus schemes; a number of outlets offer taxi services.
Finally, I feel you forget a crucial ingredient: the consumer, who chooses where to shop. And if the supermarket is being chosen over and above the local Ma & Pa shop, because they offer a better and more convienant service…….. that is the nature of competition.
George M you sound like an old tape-recorder playing boring advertisement for Supermarkets.
Of course it is better for people to have big numbers of independent Pharmacies than to have only a few Supermarkets and have to take a long distance for their needs.
And of course nobody has extra money to throw away for kartel-high-prices of Pharmacychains like a victim.
And of course nobody would prefer to have to work as an employee with chinese or pakistanian salaries,
in an environment where the so-called “competition” ends to the point where it is absolutely impossible to create your own independent job (No Competition). And that goes much further than the pharmacy sector.
Where goes then the freedom of professional choices? Why Slovakia would be so fool to waste that?
In theory, maybe thing seem like what you believe, but in real life things are far from being that way. In reality it is somewhat the opposite than what you believe.
And everybody should look for his own interest, not that of a few already-rich people. The opposite, the thing you believe, is paranoid. To wish against your own interest, I mean in favour of BigPharmaChains.
No lobbying from big corporations can fool anyone anymore George M.
You’re a bit of of a Communist, left wing cretin Alica S, still living from days gone by, when rather than taking a loaf from a self, queuing hours for a loaf of bread was quite normal doctrine . I am fed up of waiting in queue for 30 minutes for drugs in my Chemist….in a Superstore I am done and out in minutes . They serve me . You have been brain washed into trying to tell people what they should have, rather than let them choose for themselves . If you read what I wrote, rather than make it up as you go along to make your socilaist lobby masters happy , you would see I advocate a mix of choice, rather than your own vested interest , with some quite pie in sky quotes from the greedy Ma&Pa Chemist Lobby group, all seeing they’re own self ‘huge profit mark up’ interest disappearing ..
Fact is however, there is very little evidence the big co Chemist charges higher prices than small shop …..in fact my own personal experience and I would suspect as is as most other normal people shopping, is that Ma & Pa single shops charge 20-40% more for over the counter drugs , because they are unable to bulk buy, or can afford to make a smaller profit . Here the consumer you and I loose out , again I feel you forget a crucial ingredient: the consumer, who chooses where to shop. And if the supermarket is being chosen over and above the local Ma & Pa shop, because they offer a better and more convienant service…….. that is the nature of competition, something communist hate , because it means they have to sweat and work a little, rather than live off there little Cartel .
I am a Pharmacist from Greece. Large pharmacy chains have been proved to:
– increase the public health bill for the govs and peoples
– hide incomes and pay less taxes from individuals
– use lower quality drugs from unknown producers
– use merchandising practices instead of good pharmacy practises, and finally
… they are failling all over the world, take a look in Romania, Hungary even England!!
… in Greece the state didn’t even consider this possibility!!!
Good luck, you are not alone…
Certainly allowing Pharmacy chains is a bad idea for Public Health.
European Court issued the decision of 19-05-2009 stating that access of people to safe distribution of medicines requires that ownership of pharmacies is permited only to pharmacists.
Moreover the pharmaceutical expences rise significantly when pharmacy chains are allowed to act in the distribution chain. Examples from the US, Norway and the UK should made the Slovakian goverment more carefull about changes in its pharmaceutical policy.
Competition is going to be eliminated and a Cartel will rise in full control of the market
Watch out what you wish:
If you wish for large chains of pharmacies then what you ‘ll get is high prices at the end, and low quality medicines…
I don’t know why you feel that you have to support foreign businessman to growth their bank accounts and leave your own people working for peanuts!!!
tell me why are we so blind to see?
of course its bad for customers to have pharmacy chains.the prices are made by the companies and pharmacists work with a reasonable profit. the competition is between individual pharmacies.more individuals more competition. chains have the goal to eliminate the competition with low prices at the beginning. when the “others” are eliminated and you have only 2 or three players on the market , they can make a trust more easy and then you will see where the prices will go.dont be stupid.dont let chains get the game on their hands,shop with smart mind and choose the prices in different pharmacies pushing competition in higher levels.if your only choice is 2 or three companies where is actually your choice???
Mr. George M.,
USA has Pharmacy Chains and it also has the most expensive drug prices in the Global. And in UK where it has Pharmacy Chains, London Shcool of Economics published a Study that revealed that the REAL profit margin of Pharmacy Chains is the highest in Europe (St., Kanavos Panos, 2008).
Pharmacy Chains steal people and they steal Public Health Funds, that means our money (mine, yours and everybody elses).
I wonder how you feel about that now that you know. It is very fortunate for Britain that it has a Public Fund called N.I.C.E. which makes the drugs cheaper than those of USA.
Nothing could be more not-true in real life than the thing you seem believe.
Unfortunately you know nothing about Pharmacy Chains, as it seems that you don’t know that Pharmacy Chains mean expensive drugs and no competition at all for the benefit of consumers (2-3 Mega Kartels in the place of a healthy competition of thousands of small independent Pharmacies).
I advise you that you don’t be so naive to believe everything that the mainstream Media or economic analycists say. You will be victimised and you will never see it coming (as a consumer).
I f cheap drugs, good pharmaceutical service and healthy competition is the goal,
then Pharmacy Chains must close and be replaced by small independent Pharmacies owned by pharmacists,
and not by people who know nothing about the job and their only wish is to take as more money as they can from your pocket.
As it happens almost in every european country, especially in those of Euro-Zone, where you will not find Pharmacy Chains anywhere. They know better, years now.
Pharmacy chains are responsible for high pharmaceutical expenses in the US, Norway and the UK. Private Pharmacies can be controled a lot easier from the goverment than the chained pharmacies. Read the European Court C-531/06 and C-170/07 to learn the dangers to public Health from pharmacy Chains.
presne tak, presne tak George M
Bad for customers ? Bad for private pharmacy owners pockets you mean? These guys have had Cartel of charging sky high prices for over counter pharmacy goods for too long here….we need the odd Boots or Superdrug just to bring them back to heel .
No presne talk George M., not at all! Nothing could be more far-from-true than what you wrote.
Pharmacy Chains mean no competition, no more cheap drugs and no good service at all, compared to independent pharmacies. And we are talking about our childrens’, our parents’ and our own health, not just something!
For every country, including Slovakia, Pharmacy Chains means also very few taxes compared to independent pharmacies, which is a very bad thing for the Economy.
All these are classical to every profession and not only for pharmacies.
There are countries, the few that remain, that now are considering to close Pharmacy Chains and re-establish the independent Pharmacies, like Hungary and even strong voices in Great Britain!
We should be very stupid as people to make the same mistakes that others are now fighting to fix, and almost all european countries have never made.
Absolutely no to big corporations, chains or ownership to non-scientists in the pharmacy sector. This is Slovakia’s best interest if you consider it seriously.
That is what almost everybody else does in Europe. That is what is for the benefit of consumers and patients.