Despite the lifting of ban on the sale of non-prescription pharmaceuticals - everything from shampoo to combat hair lice, to cough medicine to even urine collectors - outside pharmacies, only small increase in the turnover for such products was reported so far this year.
By G. Sakkas
[email protected]
Despite the lifting of ban on the sale of non-prescription pharmaceuticals - everything from shampoo to combat hair lice, to cough medicine to even urine collectors - outside pharmacies, only small increase in the turnover for such products was reported so far this year.
A corresponding regime whereby the Greek health ministry's services predetermined retail prices for such products was also abandoned, allowing retailers to set their own prices on the shelf.
Turnover in the sector in 2017 eased to 227 million euros, down from 231 million euros in 2016.
Initial figures for the first seven months of 2018 show a small increase in turnover of 1 percent; the value of the sold products increased by 5 to 6 percent.
A full deregulation of the non-prescription drugs sector - one of many memorandum-mandated obligations undertaken by the Greek state over the course of three bailouts - essentially came in 2017.