Holguín moves toward new management models for the pharmacy network
- Written by Lourdes Pichs Rodríguez
- Published in Health
- Hits: 77
The new community pharmacies operating as small and medium-sized enterprises, non-agricultural cooperatives, or joint ventures with foreign capital will have to meet the same requirements as pharmacies in the National Public Health System.
The measure seeks to ensure that all facilities within the community pharmacy system operate under similar standards.
Maritza Almaguer Cruz, an official from the General Directorate of Health responsible for Medicines and Technology, explained that pharmaceutical activity is tightly regulated. This oversight covers the entire chain: supply, transportation, product selection, distribution, and sales.
Medicines and other products sold must have a health registration issued by CECMED, the national regulatory authority. This institution also establishes the permits and licenses required and enforces good practices for storage, distribution, and transportation.
The oversight also involves the Hygiene, Epidemiology, and Microbiology departments, especially regarding nutraceutical, nutritional, cosmetic, and personal-hygiene products. These requirements make it possible to identify products’ origin and verify their quality standards before they reach patients.
State-run pharmacies, meanwhile, will retain their main role but may expand their offerings through services managed by self-employed workers. These changes respond to measures by the Cuban government that allow state entities to carry out additional commercial activities without abandoning their core mission.
