FEATURES OF PHARMACY ACTIVITIES IN WARTIME ON THE EXAMPLE OF LOCAL NETWORKS IN THE RIVNE REGION

Abstract

The article contains information about the activity of the pharmaceutical industry during the period of martial law in Ukraine, in particular, the functioning the retail pharmacy network, including the extemporaneous production of drugs, using the example of local networks of the Rivne region: pharmacies SLC “Rivnefarmatsia” and LLC “Ukrpharm”. The pharmaceutical industry is part of the critical infrastructure, because not only the health, but also the life of Ukrainians depends on its work. The peculiarity of the pharmaceutical industry is that all these links are closely interconnected: the product goes from the manufacturer through the distributor to pharmacy chains, where the final consumer receives them. If one of these links suffers, the work of all others is blocked. Due to Russia’s full scale-war against Ukraine, companies are forced to adapt to many new challenges. In the first weeks of the full-scale invasion, problematic issues arose regarding the logistics and delivery of medicines and medical devices to pharmacies, compliance with the conditions of storage and dispensing of medicines. A comprehensive assessment of the activities of pharmacies in war time, including extemporaneous production was made for the first time and based on the analysis of the legal base governing the activities of institutions and interviews with pharmacists and pharmacy management. The study of efficiency of the pharmacy network was conducted in the first week after the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the enemy, then the activity of pharmacies in the first three months after that and the peculiarities of work in the fall of 2022 were evaluated. Also, the issues that arose in wartime according to various indicators of the organization of the activity of pharmacies were determined and the ways of solving them were proposed. In particular, for high quality work, pharmacies needed to develop alternative logistics routes for the delivery of medicines and medical products; distribution and compliance with storage conditions; pharmacies with extemporaneous production – to increase production volumes; pharmacists – to use practical skills in communication, management and marketing for high quality formation of commodity stocks and providing the population with the necessary medicines.