Spain: CNMC report slams Health Ministry over product sale rules

Spain’s competition authority, CNMC, has published a report on the Royal Decree to Regulate the Financing and Price Setting of Medicine and Sanitary Products. The new regulation presented by the Ministry of Health, seeks to regulate two crucial aspects of medication and medical supplies: financing by the National Health Service (SNS) and the prices of each.

The document sets several categories for medical supplies “which may be included as pharmacy supplies within the SNS for out-patient use”. implying that the price of these supplies would be regulated and set by law, while also being subsidised by public finances.

Among the biggest criticisms presented in the CNMC’s report (available in full here) are those against the requirement for said products to be distributed only “by a technician capable of performing the act of distribution.” The report argues that “distribution and supply of these products should be allowed in establishments” other than pharmacies. The report condemns these limitations as “unjustified restriction of activity”.

“Although exceptional cases may justify it in a specific moment, the vast majority (cotton, gauze, bandages, stool absorbers and excreta cleansers, etc.) do not require specialized personel to handle them.”

Source: OK Diario

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