The shady exposure of the pharmacy: relying on the pharmacist certificate! Recognize these 3 drug buying traps and spend less money
I don't know if you have noticed a situation, that is, there are more and more pharmacies in the streets and alleys - there is a pharmacy every 1-2 intersections, and the major pharmacies seem to be "blooming everywhere" .
Mr. Zhang, a citizen of City A, sighed that one drugstore after another suddenly appeared in front of his house recently. One was opened at the intersection of the street last month, but he did not expect a new one to be opened at the corner less than 20 meters away. He counted it and found that with the community as the center, there are 4 pharmacies on a 300-meter street .
There are not a few citizens who feel the same way as Mr. Zhang. Mr. Xu from City B also found that it used to take at least 30 minutes to find a pharmacy. Now it seems that there is a pharmacy by the roadside in 5 or 6 minutes, and it feels like it is everywhere.
Why are pharmacies opening more and more? Is it profitable to open a pharmacy? Today, Xiao Jiu will take you to find out.
1. There are more and more pharmacies in China. Are pharmacies very profitable?
Maybe many people can intuitively feel that there are more and more pharmacies on the streets...especially several pharmacies in major chains, there are more and more pharmacies, is it because they are very profitable?
In fact, the growth in the number of pharmacies is inversely proportional to profits .
According to statistics from the State Food and Drug Administration, as of the end of the third quarter of 2021, the total number of pharmacies in China reached 586,500, an increase of 32,600 from the end of 2020 . Despite the increase in pharmacies, the market is still that big.
According to the research on the value list of Chinese pharmacies, in 2021, more than 40% of the sales of large chain pharmacies will grow below 5%, of which 18.18% will be negative growth .
For old pharmacies more than one year old, the growth rate has been halved from 13.81% in the previous year to 7.38%, the gross profit rate has dropped from 28.97% in the previous year to 28.89%, and the net profit rate of enterprises with a net profit rate of less than 1% has increased from 8.89% in 2020. 16.39%, most companies are still losing money.
So what is the reason for the continuous increase in the number of pharmacies?
First, with the arrival of an aging population, the number of chronically ill people is increasing every year , and these people need to rely on offline pharmacies for their medicines; The main support for chronic diseases .
In addition, pharmacies are currently in a situation where large chains are competing for mergers and acquisitions. The high-quality resources of old pharmacies are scarce and still valuable, which has also led many companies to increase their efforts to open pharmacies.
In such a severe situation, how do pharmacies make money?
Although the cake is big, the market is basically saturated and competition is becoming more and more intense. In order to drive sales, various pharmacies can be described as full of means, such as full-volume promotions, 0 yuan purchases, and extra gifts . In addition to discounts, blood pressure and blood sugar tests are offered for free from time to time to increase customer retention rates.
Non-drugs such as health products are also the source of income for pharmacies . It can be found that many pharmacies will put health products in a prominent position, and affected by the epidemic, the business of health products has grown gratifyingly, with a growth rate of 55.42%.
2. 3 kinds of drugs have long been "banned", stay away as soon as possible
Some drugs have been restricted from being used in China or abroad, and some drugs have serious adverse reactions, so everyone should be more cautious when using them...
1. Analgin
On March 10, 2020, the website of the State Drug Administration announced that the production, sales and use of drugs containing analgin, such as analgin injection, analgin-chlorpromazine injection, and pediatric analgin enema, were stopped.
Analgin was used as an antipyretic in the 1960s and 1980s. However, with the clinical discovery, the adverse reactions of Analgin continue to appear, including serious adverse reactions in the blood system, allergic reactions, skin damage, gastrointestinal damage, etc., and even the risk of death .
Considering the safety of medication, Analgin has been banned by many.
2. Licorice slices
You must be familiar with compound licorice tablets, which can be seen in many cough and phlegm medicines.
In the ingredient list of compound licorice tablets, it can be seen that the ingredients containing opium powder are actually opium, but the ingredients in the medicine are relatively small. However, opioids are highly addictive, and if there is no professional guidance to take them, it is easy to eat more unknowingly.
Even if it is not addictive, the glycyrrhizic acid in licorice tablets is not safe. Studies have found that it may cause symptoms such as high blood pressure and edema, and pose a threat to blood vessel and heart health .
3. Ribavirin
Ribavirin, also known as ribavirin, is considered by many to be a magic drug against viruses. Indeed, this drug is mainly used to treat hepatitis C and severe respiratory viral infections, but in fact, the side effects of this drug are not low, and it can cause fetal malformations when it occurs clinically.
At present, the United States has banned pregnant women from using the drug, and China has also notified the safety of the drug.
3. There will also be shady scenes in pharmacies! 3 traps to avoid
CCTV's 315 party once exposed the phenomenon of pharmacies, which are linked to doctors' certificates and pharmacists' certificates. Therefore, if you encounter the following three situations when you go to the pharmacy, you should be vigilant:
Trap 1: Highly recommend high-profit drugs
Many people will encounter this situation. The shopping guide of the pharmacy will enthusiastically recommend better medicines to you, but these medicines are not necessarily symptomatic medicines, and may just be more profitable .
Therefore, in a similar situation, you might as well ask the shopping guide if there are similar drugs produced by other manufacturers.
Trap 2: Selling health products as medicine
This is more terrifying than selling expensive medicines. There are usually obvious "blue caps" on the packaging boxes of health care products that mark health food . And health food can't cure diseases, let alone replace medicines . If health products are used as medicines, it is absolutely unreliable.
Trap 3: Prescription drugs are sold casually
Drugs are generally divided into prescription drugs and non-prescription drugs, which are clearly marked on the medicine box. Prescription drugs need to be diagnosed by a doctor and can only be purchased with a prescription .
If a pharmacy casually sells prescription drugs to customers, it must be a black shop that only makes money and does not care whether consumers live or die.
So how do you usually distinguish between "good" and "bad" pharmacies?
First, see if the store has a licensed pharmacist stationed in the store;
Second, whether prescription drugs can be purchased at will;
Third, whether to vigorously promote high-profit drugs;
Fourth, will health care products be referred to as medicines for diseases?
Fifth, large chain stores are the first choice for buying medicine, which is more guaranteed;
Sixth, when purchasing, carefully look at the logos such as the font size, batch, and brand;
Seventh, antihypertensive drugs, hypoglycemic drugs and antibiotic drugs are not recommended to be purchased in pharmacies.
There are more and more pharmacies, which is convenient for many citizens, and at the same time, it also increases the competitiveness. I hope everyone can grow a "heart", shop around, don't spend more money, but the disease does not work, that is the bamboo basket The water was empty.
References:
[1] "More and more pharmacies are opened...". China Pharmacy. 2022-04-08
[2] "Attention! These 5 kinds of drugs are banned in Hong Kong and abroad! There are still many people in the country eating! Yinqiao Tablets with Vitamin C, etc.". Guangming.2018-08-09
[3] "The pharmacy turned out to be so tricking you! Industry veterans expose "unspoken rules of pharmacies"". Life Times. 2017-08-18
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