This has been a topic of discussion for some time now, at least in the north-east of Luxembourg. The municipality of Tandel wants to set up a medical centre with an integrated pharmacy in Fouhren. The application for a concession has been submitted, but the Medical College and the Health Directorate have both given a negative opinion. This decision is incomprehensible to Aly Kaes, MP and mayor of Tandel, who still insists on establishing a pharmacy in Fouhren.
Read also: New pharmacy in Tandel unlikely, but not ruled out altogetherSurprisingly, the mayor is still optimistic that his project might become a reality. Indeed, Minister of Health Paulette Lenert recently declared in an interview with RTL that she would base her decision on the advice of the Health Directorate and the Medical College and that she would not deviate from the guidelines.
She further mentioned an “innovative” solution in collaboration with the municipality of Vianden, where a medical centre is already located. Vianden mayor Claude Tonino proposed that doctors can work in Vianden as well as in Fouhren.
Kaes said this about the idea: “I just can’t imagine it as we would also have the pharmacy in two places. All this won’t work. In reality, it is important that a patient knows where they have to go without having to look if at the moment it is in this locality or the other.”
He also does not believe that doctors and pharmacists want to pay rent in two places. As for the Medical College’s negative opinion, Kaes comments: “It has to be said very clearly, the Medical College does not work in the best interest of the patient.”
The Medical College argues that too few people live in the vicinity of Fouhren and Vianden to justify two pharmacies. The current rule is one pharmacy for at least 2,500 inhabitants, but this figure might be increased to 5,000.
According to Kaes, Fouhren would even reach this figure if the neighbouring municipalities of Bettendorf and Reisdorf were included. But apart from that, he talks about counterproductive protectionism. It should become easier to open a pharmacy in the future, provided of course that you have the necessary qualifications, he argued.
As far as the project in Fouhren is concerned, the ball is now in the health minister’s court, who, according to Kaes, formally promised him before the two negative opinions were handed down: “We will do it.”
