Experts say it does not.
Croatian pharmacists are unhappy after they learned that the outgoing government’s Health Minister Dario Nakić tried to introduce regulations that would allow for the opening of new pharmacies in tourist areas around the country. He obviously did not consult experts, because if he did so the Minister would have learned that Croatia already has an excess number of pharmacies – as many as 300 of them more than it is necessary, reports Index.hr on August 1, 2016.
Pharmacists have therefore requested an urgent meeting with Nakić and managed to stop the implementation of the regulations, although that is not the final decision. Mate Portolan, president of the Croatian Chamber of Pharmacists, said that, in addition to Nakić, representatives of the Croatian Chamber of Economy, Association of Pharmacies, and Croatian Employers' Association were also present at the meeting. As of now, the controversial regulations will be withdrawn. According to Portolan, the document would have made it difficult for existing pharmacies to survive. Opening of the new ones could lead to the old ones being forced to close down their operations, so this does not seem logical, he explained.
“The minister has agreed to establish a committee on the pharmacy strategy. The committee should make an analysis of the existing network and give its opinion. So we have managed to stop the regulations which would have jeopardized all state-owned and other pharmacies in the tourist areas”, he said.
There is already a big enough network of pharmacies, and we have 300 pharmacies more than we need, Portolan added. “With the regulations, Nakić planned to enable the opening of new pharmacies in places where there is an increasing number of overnight tourist stays. However, pharmacies should not be opened on the basis of overnight stays because the law does not stipulate such a criterion for the decision whether to increase a number of pharmacies”, he concluded.
