Will
we ever see a Single Market in this sector and thus more competition
in Europe? Basically, I do not think that this would happen soon as
the Pharmacies’ lobby is very strong both in the EU and in most EU
countries. Just as the Single Market has not been achieved in other
areas, it is still a very long way off in this sector. On the other
hand, are consumers to simply accept this as a fact and accept the
status quo as their destiny?
Again,
I do not think so. The reason is that there are other forces at work
which cannot be stopped. Globalisation of trade and the permeability
of this phenomenon down to the single individual consumer through
online shopping are forces which no single national lobby, even one
as strong as the Pharmacies'
(inews blog ), would be able to stand against for a
long time.
The
writing has been on the wall for a long time, even in Malta. I still
remember when the GRTU tried to stop consumers from buying books at
a cheap price from visiting vessels.
Its lobby against change also extended to online shopping but it
knows that this position will not stand the test of time and they
will have to change their position just as they did on Sunday
shopping. Presently, the number of online shopping of medicines is
small but it is increasing as it deals, even in an indirect way, to
the problems consumers are facing in this sector
(Facebook).
Taking
the average consumer, I believe there is still quite a lot of
hesitation to buy medicines and other health care products online.
The reason for this reluctance is that this area concerns their
health. Consumers are still cautious though people feel the need for
a wider choice and lower prices of medicines.
The
prices of medicines for a time was a hot issue especially since
Maltese were realizing that the prices that they had to pay in Malta
were high. A regulatory process was introduced to control prices.
The process introduced, surveys medicines’ prices and where it is
found that these are disproportionately high, through this mechanism,
prices are reduced. This mechanism started during the last
legislature and is still operational. It is operated by the MCCAA.
Though this mechanism has been successful in reducing medicines’
prices, it is bureaucratic by its very nature and only aims at
pressuring prices towards the average European price.
Online
shopping is the answer and several European markets are opening up.
Just as Uber has caused an earthquake in the taxi sector of most
European markets, two firms have shaken the two most conservative
countries in this area – Germany and France. Doc Morris had shaken
the German market some years ago while 1001Pharmacies has started
shaking the French pharmacies sector. Their business model is
similar to Amazon.com and the transfer of this business model to the
pharmacies’ sector looks very promising both to consumers and the
business sector.
As
I already indicated the most important factor holding back
development in this sector has been consumers’ reluctance into
diving into this sector. The reason is that the shadow of online
pharmacies’ unsavoury beginnings still hangs over the business due
to the chance of consumers receiving counterfeits which at one
extreme can be ineffective while on the other, could be fatal.
However,
there is hope on the way. Many countries are rising to this
challenge and are providing websites where consumers can check the
reliability of the supplier. Most are making it mandatory that
websites providing online shopping for pharmaceuticals should also
have their registration showing so as consumers can be sure that
those supplying the medicines are reliable.
On
the European level, things are also moving in this direction. As
from this July, online pharmacies in the EU should have a special
logo. Unfortunately though mandatory it is still missing from most
online pharmacies websites. The logo will have the national banner
and once clicked on it will direct you to the national website where
one can check whether the site is registered and thus reaches
mandatory standards. For Maltese online pharmacies there are two
such logos – one in Maltese and the other in English since the two
languages are both Malta’s official languages.
Thus
the way is open to offer such a service by local pharmacies. Till
present there are no local pharmacies. Will the local business
sector rise to the occasion or shall Maltese consumers continue to
rely on overseas online pharmacies as we do rely in most other
sectors?
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