Czech moves to make drugs available outside pharmacies

The Czech Ministry of Health has drafted a new directive that would make drugs available to people outside pharmacies, a move which pharmacists see as a "chaotic solution" to the current problems, the daily newspaper Hospodarske reports. If approved, the directive would allow the sale of prescription medicines in special drugstores that would have no connection with the pharmacies. These shops are designed to serve people who live far from a pharmacy, the Ministry says.