Together with the creation of mobile drugstores, counterfeit drugs and expired medicines could be sold in the country, while the prescription medicines could be issued without prescription. There is also the risk that the medicines in these mobile units will be issued not by specialists, but by ordinary people without pharmacy studies, IPN quoted the president of the Association of Pharmacists Ion Zgîrcu as saying in a news conference.

Ion Zgîrcu stated that the mobile drugstores cannot ensure optimal conditions for storing drugs. “Simultaneously, there is an acute shortage of pharmacists on the market. The law that was recently adopted by Parliament will generate an irrational consumption of medicines. The provision of the population with medicines in villages can be ensured by the rational placing of drugstores in rural areas,” stated Ion Zgîrcu, noting that any medicine can become toxic in inappropriate storage conditions, when taking an overdose or using the drug incorrectly, without consulting a doctor.

In reaction, For Moldova Platform MP Ruxanda Glavan issued a press statement, saying the position stated by the president of the Association of Pharmacists is hypocritical. She noted Ion Zgîrcu earlier worked in a drugstore that supplied medicines at home, which was against the then legislation.

She also said that the activity of the mobile drugstores, which generated contradictory discussions in Moldova, is a typical practice in many European states. In the U.S., Canada and Japan, there are both mobile drugstores and mobile clinics for citizens, especially during natural disasters.

On December 16, the law on mobile drugstores was adopted by the votes of the MPs of the Party of Socialists and For Moldova Platform, which includes the MPs of the Shor Party. The opposition said the law was carried in secret, by violating the regulations, and is toxic for the citizens of the Republic of Moldova.

In Moldova there are over 1,400 drugstores and branches, 446 of which are in villages.