Especially if you can’t find it. The pill, THAT pill, and at least one of the brands, will be out of stock until at least the end of the summer, wrote SvD today. Another hormone replacement therapy pill (for the more mature woman’s needs one might say) is also out of stock for at least the next few months. (Also pregnancy prevention pills for cats are out of stock, though I am not comparing.)
That so many prescription medications are suddenly not available at the local pharmacy – or at any pharmacy anywhere in the country – has been a recurring news item for several months. But are pharmacies the problem? Are they just greedy money machines that won’t order what they don’t want to order and don’t care about the old and the sick and the in pain? In a debate article from May 19 (dn.se) two Stockholm doctors say no, and that in reality Swedish pharmacies knock themselves out trying to find medicine for their customers (a pharmacist showed me recently how to find a pharmacy that had what I wanted in stock – on fass.se).
For those who weren’t here at the time, previous to 2009 pharmacies were state-owned affairs, like Systembolaget. Since the deregulation, things have improved greatly, like business hours, numbers of stores (at least in the cities) and an improved selection (state-owned tampons were not fun). It’s uncertain where the bottle neck is. After all, the pharmacies don’t make money on medication they haven’t sold, and the pill has a pretty captive audience.