Liberalization and Governance in the Geographical Distribution of Pharmacies in Spain.

Ángel Miramontes Carballada,Rubén C Lois-González

doi:10.3390/ijerph19010034

Ángel Miramontes Carballada, Rubén C Lois-González

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19010034

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Abstract

The Health system in Spain is considered one of the most valued public services by the population. In fact, during the first decade of the 21st century, Spain became a health tourism destination for people from central and northern European countries. In addition to the health infrastructure, the quality of medical and nursing care stands out. Something similar also happens with the Spanish pharmaceutical system. However, there are some characteristics that should be addressed from a Geography perspective. The pharmacies’ legal system does not consider them to be of public interest. One is when some of the main activities are the sale and distribution of medicines that are partially paid for by the Administration, that is, Social Security. In the same activity, the public function is combined with the private interests of the pharmacy owners to provide a balanced territorial service. One of the conclusions demonstrates how the borders that are sometimes created by the Administration are not always the most efficient in relation to the characteristics of the territory, nor do they provide the best service to the population and, therefore, create territorial imbalances within a country. To reach our conclusions, we carried out an exhaustive study of the pharmacy legislation in the EU and in Spain, as well as Geography of Health and theories of territorial location. We combined this information with statistics on the territorial characteristics of Spain. This allowed us to confirm the peculiarities that exist within the governance of the distribution of pharmacy offices in Spain.

Highlights

Academic Editor: Gabriel GulisThe first works into the Geography of Health that we know of, and with a similar structure to today’s works, date back to the first decades of the 20th century
The consensus on the objective of the Geography of Health is that it focuses on generating knowledge about the analysis of the results of health policies, the organization of the population’s health services, and the development of the territory [10]
The first is a contract signed between the owners of a pharmacy and a group of geographers to write a report that included a territorial assessment of the potentialities and weaknesses that the relocation of a pharmacy within the same municipality in Spain would entail

Summary

Introduction

Academic Editor: Gabriel GulisThe first works into the Geography of Health that we know of, and with a similar structure to today’s works, date back to the first decades of the 20th century. The themes focused on issues related to inequalities, health policies, or the use and access to health services Most of these studies were conducted in countries such as the UK, Germany, or the USA [1,2,3,4,5,6]. It is important to highlight that the Geography of Health has always integrated aspects related to demographic, social, economic, and environmental variables. It has become one of the areas of study in Geography with more multidimensional methodologies, borrowing from economists, sociologists, or medical doctors [7,8,9]. The consensus on the objective of the Geography of Health is that it focuses on generating knowledge about the analysis of the results of health policies, the organization of the population’s health services, and the development of the territory [10]

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