8/18/2019 Community Pharmacy Practice in Uruguay

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Community pharmacy practice in Uruguay

General Information of the Country:Uruguay is located in South America, between Brazil and Argentina. By theSouth and East is bounded by the Río de la Plata and the Atlantic Ocean. ts

territory co!ers "#$.%"& 'm( and its )o)ulation is about *,% millions inhabitants.Uruguayan )o)ulation is +uite old, with ".#- inhabitants o!er $ years./he land is slightly undulated and the 0lu!ial networ' is rich and dense andstra!els through the whole territory./he weather is mild, with 0our clearly de0ined seasons./he most im)ortant industries are agriculture, li!estoc', 0ood )rocessing,leather and te1tiles. 2ross 3omestic Product in %"% was U4S 56.6% millions.Uruguay is a re)resentati!e democratic re)ublic with a )residential system andthree inde)endent )owers7 e1ecuti!e, legislati!e and 8udicial.9onte!ideo, the ca)ital o0 Uruguay, is the largest city and the most im)ortantharbour o0 the country. t is located in the south, o!er the Río de la Plata. E!en

though Uruguay has a low )o)ulation density, the situation is di00erent in9onte!ideo and its 9etro)olitan Area. n 0act, this area has about %, millionsinhabitants.Uruguayan Pharmacists:/here are about "$ Pharmaceutical :hemists in Uruguay. Pharmaceutical:hemist is the o00icial degree 0or those )ro0essionals who wor' in Pharmacy. Allo0 them are educated in the ;aculty o0 :hemistry o0 the Uni!ersity o0 theRe)ublic, the only one that o00ers this career. /hey are distributed in all thesectors o0 )harmacy )ractice, namely hos)ital )harmacy, community )harmacy,)harmaceutical industry, legal authorities and education.

/he )ractice o0 Pharmaceutical :hemists is regulated by the 9inistry o0 PublicAsociaci?n de@uímica y ;armacia del Uruguay, A@;U gather the Pharmaceutical :hemist,but is a !oluntary association.9ost o0 the Pharmaceutical :hemists li!e in 9onte!ideo and its 9etro)olitan Area >"-.Community Pharmacy:n Uruguay there are about "" :ommunity Pharmacies, 5- o0 which are in9onte!ideo. /he 9inistry o0 Public /echnical 3irector but the ownershi) can be o0 any )erson)hysical or 8uriddica ca)able o0 being a trader. 9edicine doctors, dentists and!eterinaries can=t be owners o0 a Pharmacy. /he /echnical 3irector isres)onsible 0or all the )harmaceutical acts done in the Pharmacy, but don=tneed to be )resent in the Pharmacy all the time. n 0act, one Pharmaceutical:hemistry can be /echnical 3irector u) to three Pharmacies. According to the law, all medicines must be dis)ensed by Pharmacies and noother commerce can trade medicines.0 you ta'e into account the relationshi) between the number o0 Pharmacies andPharmaceutical :hemists outside 9onte!ideo, you can see that there aren=t

enough )ro0essionals. E!en in 9onte!ideo, ta'ing into account all other sectorso0 )ractice, the number o0 )ro0essional is not enough. /his has two )rinci)al

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causes7 there are too many Pharmacies according to the )o)ulation and thereare too little Pharmaceutical :hemists. U) to %* the number o0 Pharmacieswas regulated 8ust by the distance between them, but 0rom this year a secondway to regulate the number is the )o)ulation o0 the city >& inhabitants )er Pharmacy. n the last 0i0teen years the number o0 new Pharmaceutical

:hemists has reduced, and that is a !ery worrying 0act 0or the A@;U, the;aculty o0 :hemistry and the 9inistry o0