Stagnating fees, medicines that are not available, competition from online providers - Saxony's pharmacists are struggling with many problems. The result: according to figures from the state association, a good 30 percent of pharmacies are in the red or are considered economically at risk. As a result, investments are being postponed and such pharmacies are finding it difficult to find a successor when the owner retires. Despite an ageing population, pharmacies continue to die out. Further paths are the result. A nationwide protest is now planned for March 23.
"The number of pharmacies has been declining for years," laments Reinhard Groß, board member of the Saxon Pharmacists' Association. Last year alone, 18 pharmacies closed down and only five new ones opened. In the past ten years, more than 120 pharmacies have disappeared from the scene in Saxony, and there are currently 864 left across the state.
