Community pharmacy practice in Uruguay

General Information of the Country:

Uruguay is located in South America, between Brazil and Argentina. By the
South and East is bounded by the Ro de la Plata and the Atlantic Ocean. Its
territory covers 176.215 km and its population is about 3,2 millions inhabitants.
Uruguayan population is quite old, with 18.7% inhabitants over 60 years.
The land is slightly undulated and the fluvial network is rich and dense ands
travels through the whole territory.
The weather is mild, with four clearly defined seasons.
The most important industries are agriculture, livestock, food processing,
leather and textiles. Gross Domestic Product in 2012 was U$S 49.920 millions.
Uruguay is a representative democratic republic with a presidential system and
three independent powers: executive, legislative and judicial.
Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, is the largest city and the most important
harbour of the country. It is located in the south, over the Ro de la Plata. Even
though Uruguay has a low population density, the situation is different in
Montevideo and its Metropolitan Area. In fact, this area has about 2,0 millions
inhabitants.
Uruguayan Pharmacists:
There are about 1600 Pharmaceutical Chemists in Uruguay. Pharmaceutical
Chemist is the official degree for those professionals who work in Pharmacy. All
of them are educated in the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of the
Republic, the only one that offers this career. They are distributed in all the
sectors of pharmacy practice, namely hospital pharmacy, community pharmacy,
pharmaceutical industry, legal authorities and education.
The practice of Pharmaceutical Chemists is regulated by the Ministry of Public
Health. In Uruguay doesnt exist professionals colleges unless for the medicine
practice.
The Uruguayan Association of Chemistry and Pharmacy (Asociacin de
Qumica y Farmacia del Uruguay, AQFU) gather the Pharmaceutical Chemist,
but is a voluntary association.
Most of the Pharmaceutical Chemists live in Montevideo and its Metropolitan
Area (81%).
Community Pharmacy:
In Uruguay there are about 1100 Community Pharmacies, 40% of which are in
Montevideo. The Ministry of Public Health is in charge of the control of
Pharmacies. By law, every Pharmacy must have a Pharmaceutical Chemist as
responsible (Technical Director) but the ownership can be of any person
physical or juriddica capable of being a trader. Medicine doctors, dentists and
veterinaries cant be owners of a Pharmacy. The Technical Director is
responsible for all the pharmaceutical acts done in the Pharmacy, but dont
need to be present in the Pharmacy all the time. In fact, one Pharmaceutical
Chemistry can be Technical Director up to three Pharmacies.
According to the law, all medicines must be dispensed by Pharmacies and no
other commerce can trade medicines.
If you take into account the relationship between the number of Pharmacies and
Pharmaceutical Chemists outside Montevideo, you can see that there arent
enough professionals. Even in Montevideo, taking into account all other sectors
of practice, the number of professional is not enough. This has two principal

causes: there are too many Pharmacies according to the population and there
are too little Pharmaceutical Chemists. Up to 2003 the number of Pharmacies
was regulated just by the distance between them, but from this year a second
way to regulate the number is the population of the city (5000 inhabitants per
Pharmacy). In the last fifteen years the number of new Pharmaceutical
Chemists has reduced, and that is a very worrying fact for the AQFU, the
Faculty of Chemistry and the Ministry of Health.
In such a situation, it is very difficult to Uruguayan pharmacists to really offer
pharmaceutical assistance in the Community Pharmacy. Nevertheless, the
AQFU has been working in the implementation of Good Pharmaceutical
Practices and promoting the presence of the Pharmaceutical Chemist in the
Pharmacy. Additionally the AQFU has taken an active role in training helpers for
the Pharmaceutical Chemist in the Community Pharmacy work. In the last 20
years many work has been done, and there have been many changes, although
there is still a lot to be done.
At the end of 2013 Uruguayan Parliament has approved a law that regulates the
trade of marijuana. When this law enters into force, the trade of marijuana for
recreational purpose will be legal and the distribution will be done by the
Community Pharmacy. There hasnt laid down rules for this law yet, and the
AQFU is trying to avoid the distribution of a recreational drug in the Pharmacy.