The Chamber of Deputies approved this Monday (2) a bill that establishes criteria for the operation of a pharmacy sector in supermarkets. The proposal will be sent for presidential approval.
According to the text, sent by the Senate, the installation of a pharmacy or drugstore will be permitted in the supermarket sales areaas long as it is in a delimited, segregated and exclusive physical environment for pharmaceutical activity.
The text received a favorable opinion from the rapporteur, deputy Dr. Zacharias Calil (União-GO), for whom the measure facilitates access in smaller cities. “There are access difficulties faced by consumers who live in small municipalities, in the most remote regions of Brazil, due to the absence of pharmacies in these locations,” he said.
Although it can operate under the same fiscal identity as the supermarket or through a contract with a pharmacy or drugstore licensed and registered with the competent bodies, it will have to follow the same sanitary and technical requirements, such as:
- Physical dimension, structure of pharmaceutical offices;
- Receiving, storage, temperature control, ventilation, lighting and humidity; and
- Traceability, assistance and pharmaceutical care.
Furthermore, the presence of legally qualified pharmacists will be mandatory during all opening hours of the pharmacy or drugstore located in the supermarket sales area.
Special control
As for the control medications special (revenue retention), the text determines that the delivery of the medicine and instructions (dispensing) only occurs after payment.
Alternatively, medicines may be transported from the service counter to the payment location in sealed, tamper-proof and identifiable packaging.
Functional separation
Another planned restriction is the provision of medicines in open areas, communicable or without complete functional separation, such as countertops, stands or gondolas external to the pharmacy or drugstore space.
The activities will be subject, like pharmacies outside supermarkets, to the rules of the law on the exercise and supervision of pharmaceutical activities and the law on health surveillance of medicines, drugs, pharmaceutical inputs and related products.
Ecommerce
The project allows pharmacies and drugstores, licensed and registered by the competent bodieshire digital channels and e-commerce platforms for logistics and delivery purposes to the consumer, as long as full compliance with applicable health regulations is ensured.
*with information from Agência Câmara Notícias
