Rising costs and staff shortages put a strain on pharmacies in Saxony

Rising costs and staff shortages are increasingly causing problems for pharmacies in Saxony. "Every tenth pharmacy in Saxony is already in the red, a third is in financial difficulties," said Reinhard Groß, deputy chairman of the association, before the start of the Pharmacists' Day on Friday. There is a trend towards more and more closures due to economic problems or a lack of skilled staff. "We urgently need an economic stabilization of pharmacies, which have not experienced a noticeable adjustment of their fees for twenty years now, but have had to struggle with enormous cost increases in almost all areas, especially in recent years," demanded Groß.

In addition, the e-prescription introduced at the turn of the year poses challenges for pharmacies. The e-prescription is currently causing pharmacies a great deal of additional work and, not least, economic damage, said Groß. For example, customers would switch to another pharmacy due to technical faults and health insurance companies would reduce invoices due to incorrectly filled prescriptions. Groß therefore called on the Federal Ministry of Health to stabilize the system and protect against invoice cuts due to technical problems.

Last November, pharmacies across Germany protested for more money with demonstrations and closures due to the economic pressure. In Dresden, there was a protest action by pharmacists from the eastern German states. According to the Federal Union of German Pharmacists' Associations, salaries have not increased since 2004.