OREANDA-NEWS  Over the past five years, the number of non-chain pharmacies in Russia has decreased by a quarter (minus 25 percent). This is reported by RBC with reference to the analytical company DSM Group.

By the end of October 2023, the number of non-chain pharmacies had decreased from 16.1 to 11.9 thousand. At the same time, the number of pharmacies in federal chains increased from 16.2 to 29.9 thousand. According to Sergey Shulyak, CEO of the DSM Group, small dots cannot compete with large players. Since a significant part of the closed points are located in small towns where business profitability is lower, such territories often remain without a single pharmacy.

On average, there are 51 pharmacies per 100,000 people in the country. The authorities are trying to solve the problem with the lack of retail outlets in small settlements by opening paramedic and obstetric centers (FAP), however, paramedics are often loaded with specialized work, the range of FAP is scarce, and waiting for specialists takes a long time.

Earlier, the DSM Group announced the disappearance of imported drugs from the assortment of Russian pharmacies. In the first half of 2023, the number of foreign medicines decreased by 20.3 percent year-on-year. Experts explained the withdrawal of imported drugs by the influx of cheaper Russian analogues.