According to the National Medical Products Administration's Licensed Pharmacist Qualification Certification Center, from the end of April to the end of July this year, the cumulative number of licensed pharmacists in the country with valid registration has decreased month-on-month. In April, May, June, and July, the number of registered licensed pharmacists nationwide decreased by 1,940, 685, 4,384, and 88 respectively.

In recent years, the number of retail pharmacies in my country has continued to grow. As of the end of December 2023, the number of pharmacies nationwide exceeded 666,000, including 14,792 wholesale enterprises, 6,725 retail chain headquarters, 385,594 retail chain stores, and 281,366 single pharmacies. These data have increased compared to 2022. The total number of retail pharmacies continues to increase, and the society has a strong demand for licensed pharmacists, but the number of registered licensed pharmacists has decreased in several months.

The General Department of the State Drug Administration has long begun to carry out the notice of rectification of the "hanging certificate" behavior of practicing pharmacists in drug retail enterprises. Through rectification, a number of illegal and irregular drug retail enterprises and practitioners have been investigated and exposed. This year, the special action to combat "hanging certificates" has been further strengthened. According to incomplete statistics from Cyber Blue, as of now, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Yunnan, Henan, Anhui, Hubei, Liaoning, Sichuan and other provinces have actively participated in the rectification activities against practicing pharmacists. Most provinces are conducting supervision and inspection, and verifying, handling and publicizing the "hanging certificate" behavior of some practicing pharmacists.

Overall, the focus of rectification includes: failure to equip practicing pharmacists as required or practicing pharmacists leaving their posts; the registered address of the practicing pharmacist registration certificate does not match the actual practice address, and the filing information does not match the actual situation; the practicing pharmacist is not on duty and does not hang a sign to inform and sell prescription drugs; the practicing pharmacist registration certificate is not publicized as required; prescription drugs are not sold with prescriptions; practicing pharmacists do not strictly review prescriptions and correctly adjust drugs; the enterprise quality management system is not standardized and effectively operated, etc. Enterprises need to continuously conduct self-inspections in accordance with the "Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of the Quality of Drug Operation and Use" and "Regulations on the Quality Management of Drug Operation", take practical and effective measures to rectify the above-mentioned possible problems in a timely manner, and report the rectification situation in a timely manner.

In addition, the state has continuously strengthened the credit supervision system, and professionals such as doctors and pharmacists who provide medical security services have been included in the credit supervision. The "Guiding Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Promoting the Reform of the Medical Security Fund Supervision System" clearly proposed to "establish a credit management system", establish medical insurance credit records, credit evaluation systems and points management systems for medical institutions and insured persons. The "Implementation Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Strengthening the Regular Supervision of the Use of Medical Security Funds" further refines and clarifies the specific measures to establish and improve the medical insurance credit management system in multiple aspects such as hierarchical and classified management, the implementation of the credit commitment system, and the implementation of credit rewards and punishments, providing a more solid policy support for the construction of the medical insurance credit management system. Under the rectification activities and credit supervision, a large number of "hanging" licensed pharmacists have been cancelled, and the number of licensed pharmacists within the registration validity period has declined to a certain extent.

At present, the geographical distribution of licensed pharmacists in my country is uneven, mainly concentrated in the eastern and coastal developed areas, and the number in the western and remote areas is relatively small, while the problem of insufficient number of licensed pharmacists in primary medical institutions has always existed. According to the data of the National Licensed Pharmacist Registration Management Information System, there are 4.3 licensed pharmacists per 10,000 people in Sichuan Province, 7.1 in Chengdu, 2.2 in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in the "Three Prefectures", 1.5 in Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, and only 0.8 in Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture; there are 5.0 licensed pharmacists per 10,000 people in Chongqing, 17.9 in Nan'an District, and the lowest in Wushan County in remote areas is 1.9; the number of licensed pharmacists per 10,000 people in Jiangxi Province, Qinghai Province, and Guizhou Province is 2.7, 2.4, and 1.9 respectively.

At the same time, some regions have adjusted the requirements for the deployment of licensed pharmacists, and made adjustments in the number of deployments and the intensity of supervision, which may affect the number of registered licensed pharmacists. In September, the Beijing Municipal Drug Administration issued the "Beijing Provisional Regulations on the Establishment of Drug Retail Enterprises (Draft for Comments)" for public comments, pointing out that drug retail enterprises should set up quality management organizations or full-time quality management personnel that are commensurate with their business scale, and be equipped with a certain number of licensed pharmacists or pharmaceutical technicians who have been certified according to law to engage in quality management, prescription review, pharmaceutical services and other work.

Among them, those who operate prescription drugs and Class A over-the-counter drugs should be equipped with licensed pharmacists or other pharmaceutical technicians who have been certified according to law that are commensurate with their business scale and business varieties. Previously, this regulation was "equipped with at least 1 licensed pharmacist and 2 pharmaceutical technicians with titles equivalent to pharmacists or above". In addition, drug retail enterprises that only operate Class B over-the-counter drugs and carry out Chinese medicine decoction piece adjustment have adjusted the requirements for licensed pharmacists/licensed Chinese medicine pharmacists. Although the number of licensed pharmacists has decreased month-on-month in recent months, the demand for licensed pharmacists in pharmacies is still increasing due to the increase in the number of pharmacies and the promotion of the "dual channel" policy.

As of the end of August 2024, there are 803,890 licensed pharmacists in China, an increase of 106 from the previous month, with an average of 5.7 licensed pharmacists per 10,000 people. Among them, 730,499 are in drug retail enterprises, accounting for 90.9%; 42,664 are in drug wholesale enterprises; 5,414 are in drug manufacturing enterprises; 25,068 are in medical institutions; and 245 are in other fields. With the deepening of the special rectification activities of the state on the "hanging certificate" behavior of licensed pharmacists and the increase in the demand for licensed pharmacists, the social recognition of licensed pharmacists is expected to be further improved.

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