The pharmacies have an extremely important role in society. If we were to be hit by a new crisis, it's not possible for the state to lean back, says Lena Hallengren, S group leader in the Riksdag, at a press conference.
The state-owned Apoteket AB is proposed to receive a societal assignment to operate the 300 pharmacies. They should be located in such a way that 90 percent of the country's inhabitants get a national pharmacy within a 20-kilometer driving distance.
Today, Apoteket has pharmacies in 62 percent of the country's municipalities, and in most cases, a network of national pharmacies can be created through the development of these, according to S. Municipalities where Apoteket lacks physical pharmacies will be handled on a case-by-case basis.
By Apoteket AB establishing an additional pharmacy on site, or when it is more suitable for the private pharmacy to be bought by Apoteket AB, says Fredrik Lundh Sammeli (S).
Already today, pharmacies are required to have stockpiling of medicines, after the law was changed last summer. But it's not enough according to Hallengren.
In the event of a crisis or war, we must be sure that the agreements have been signed and that it's not the profitability requirements of the individual pharmacy that determine the individual's access to vital medicine, she says.
