Duda signs new pharmacy ownership law

Despite protests, President Andrzej Duda signed a law which will restrict right to open a pharmacy only to professional pharmacists. The new regulations also impose geographic and demographic limits on a number of such facilities. After the bill goes into force, a permit to run a pharmacy will only be granted to authorized pharmacists or companies owned by pharmacists and operating exclusively in that sector. The bill faced numerous protests from the medical community, opposition, and even government officials. Deputy PMs Jarosław Gowin and Mariusz Moriawiecki voiced their concerns, saying that the law unfairly privileges pharmacists and curbs free market principles. The health ministry explained, that the new regulations are needed in order to curb the growing market share of pharmacy chains, who according to the ministry data, control some 50 percent of the market.