The pharmacies economic health, affected

Image: Expreso

José Zambrano, president of the Guayas Pharmacy Owners Association, (Asociación de Propietarios de Farmacias del Guayas, in spanish), said to “Diario Expreso” that the sales have fallen between 20% and 50%. “The effects of this were that at least three pharmacies had to sell the business, two months ago”, he says.

He explains that even though big distributors such as Difare have signed an agreement to compete legally, there are still wholesalers that sale the products cheaper at the final consumer and they have also opened small businesses in Guasmo and Suburbio.

To make a decision about this, the guild will reunite in the next few days with the purpose of develop a document where the will explain to the authorities the problemas that are affecting the sector.

Referring to the employment situation, Zambrano indicates that the low sales force them to reduce the employees. “Pharmacies that used to have three contributors have now stayed with one, to resist the economic contraction”, he says.