Latvia

Health systems in transition
Latvia
Table 6.6
Number of enterprises involved in pharmaceuticals manufacture and
distribution, 2000–2006
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Pharmacies 820 908 884 876 882 861 858
of which hospital 31 40 40 43 44 42 42
pharmacies or
pharmacies of health
service institutions
Wholesalers 59 50 42 38 37 37 36
Manufacturers of 16 15 14 13 13 14 14
pharmaceuticals (Latvian)
Source: Statistics of the State Agency of Medicines on the Operation of Pharmaceutical
Enterprises, information provided to the authors [unpublished data].
Amendments to the “Law on Pharmaceutical Activities” (of 1998) enacted
in June 2001 prescribe new norms in the ownership of pharmacies. Only
a pharmacist or local government in its administrative territory (with the
permission of the Minister of Health) has the right to open and own a community
pharmacy. A pharmacy may open no more than two branches outside a city
where there are no other pharmacies or pharmacy branches within a radius of
5 km.
Wholesalers are private enterprises, with a growing Latvian share of the
total wholesale market, although a significant part of the Latvian market is
accounted for by foreign firms. In 2005 there were 36 licensed wholesalers
of pharmaceutical products (for human consumption). The number of Latvian
wholesalers has decreased since 2000, as mentioned earlier. The largest is Recipe
Plus, controlling 30.2% of the Latvian wholesale market.
Hospitals purchase medicines from wholesalers or pharmacies; if a purchase
for a large amount of pharmaceuticals is required, it is put out to tender.
Sometimes groups of hospitals issue joint tenders to secure lower prices.
Pharmaceutical care is provided only by specialists with a pharmaceutical
background. In 2005, 3098 such specialists were working, of whom 1485
were pharmacists and the rest were pharmacists’ assistants. A total of 91%
of all specialists work in pharmacies, including 1296 pharmacists and 1537
pharmacists’ assistants (HSMTSA database 2007 [unpublished data]).
In 2005, 17.9% of pharmacies (154) prepared pharmaceutical products
according to individual prescriptions issued by physicians. As it is not
economically profitable to prepare such products in pharmacies, the scale of
this service has fallen and in 2005 extemporal preparations amounted only to
0.51 % of the total turnover of pharmacies.
Pharmacies that provide 24-hour pharmaceutical care constitute 3.7% of
the total number of pharmacies.
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