Brussels, 29/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - 2015 has brought its share of changes, the Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU) notes in its annual report - Pharmacy with you throughout life - published on Tuesday 29 March.
In addition to patient stories and little snapshots, the PGEU sets out key figures and achievements in 2015. It highlights the changes brought by the directives on falsified medicines (2011/62/EU) and on professional qualifications (2013/55/EU). The first led to the creation of the EU hub (a central data router) and the first national repository, along with the European Medicines Verification Organisation. “We are a few steps closer to making European community pharmacies the safest place in the world to get your medicines”, states the PGEU in the report. It adds that the professional qualifications directive has made it easier for general care nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists, real estate agents and mountain guides to pursue their professions in other EU countries, thanks to the European Professional Card (EPC). “The card is available from 18 January 2016 and in the first weeks of 2016 a number of pharmacists have already applied for a professional card in order to request recognition of their professional qualification before moving to another EU member state”, says the PGEU, before going on to pledge to work with the European Commission in 2016 “in reviewing the annexes of the Recognition of Professional Qualifications Directive relating to the training and education of professionals falling under the directive”.
In terms of figures, the PGEU report says that the country which has the highest number of pharmacies in Europe is France (22,455) and Luxembourg has the least (101 pharmacies). In relation to the number of inhabitants, it is Greece that comes out on top (84.06 pharmacies per 100,000 inhabitants) and Denmark (6.55 pharmacies per 100,000 inhabitants) is bottom. Austria has the highest number of pharmacists per pharmacy (4.18) and Greece is the EU country with the lowest (1.05). In 2015, Italy had 70,300 pharmacists compared with 350 in Luxembourg.
The report can be found at http://pgeu.eu/en/press/231 : pr-on-pgeu-annual-report-2015.html. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)
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