Medicines and supplies: a law on mobile pharmacies is being introduced to the State Duma

The Mobile Pharmacy initiative, aimed at increasing the availability of medicines in small and remote communities, is reaching a new level of development. On December 17, the bill of United Russia deputies, already supported by the government, will be submitted to the State Duma, Izvestia found out. Each mobile pharmacy will serve up to 50 villages where there is currently no permanent access to medicines. Pharmacists positively assessed the idea, noting that it is also possible to simply allow the online sale of prescription drugs. About how residents of distant villages are now buying medicines, how deputies want to help them and what mobile pharmacies will not be able to deliver — in the Izvestia article.

Where will mobile pharmacy points go?

The deputies of United Russia, who drafted the bill, propose launching mobile pharmacies in the regions. It is assumed that they will sell medicines in villages where there are neither paramedic and obstetric stations (FAP) nor pharmacies themselves, and residents have to travel for medicines to the nearest cities for many kilometers.

— The issue of accessibility of medicines for residents of remote and sparsely populated areas is quite acute. It is not always possible for residents of villages and villages, especially the elderly, to travel to administrative centers to buy the necessary medicines. This question was addressed by citizens to the chairman of the party, who supported the concept of the bill. Mobile pharmacies will make life much easier for rural residents," Vladimir Yakushev, Secretary of the General Council of United Russia, told Izvestia.

The initiative, which has already been supported by the government, will be submitted to the lower house of parliament on December 17 (Izvestia has the document). According to Evgeny Nifantiev, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Health Protection, one mobile pharmacy will be able to serve up to 50 settlements, working in each of them for an hour a week. It should also be possible to pre-order medicines in such pharmacies, he said.

— A specialist with a pharmaceutical education will dispense medicines, including prescription drugs, from a mobile pharmacy. Every person in our country, regardless of whether they live in a megalopolis or in a small town, should be able to purchase medicines in a wide range and at affordable prices," said the parliamentarian.

Amendments are proposed to the law "On the circulation of medicines". But for now, we are talking about a three—year experiment - it will be conducted from June 1, 2026 to June 1, 2029. During this time, the authorities will be able to understand how effective mobile pharmacies are in principle and whether they should be introduced on an ongoing basis. The decision on which subjects will take part in the experiment will remain with the Cabinet of Ministers. At the same time, the authorities in the region will have to approve a list of pharmacy organizations that are ready to participate, and their routes of movement in those villages where there are no permanent pharmacies. In addition, the regions will be required to submit preliminary and final reports to the government with an assessment of the experiment.

It is worth noting that mobile pharmacies will not be able to sell all medicines. As stated in the bill, it will be impossible to buy drugs containing psychotropic and potent substances, with an ethyl alcohol content of over 25%, and with a storage temperature below 15 degrees. Thus, according to Andrei Yatskin, First Vice Speaker of the Federation Council, deputies and senators have done extensive work to coordinate all the provisions of the new version of the document with the Ministry of Health. According to him, mobile pharmacies will be in demand, including in new regions and in settlements near the front.

Where are there not enough pharmacies in Russia right now

As practice shows, the problem of the lack of pharmacies in sparsely populated areas affects all regions of the country. Russians often complain to MPs and journalists, but the issue has not been resolved definitively.

"For the hinterland, the lack of pharmacies is a real problem, and when I travel around my district, I receive a lot of complaints about this," says Andrei Gimbatov, a State Duma deputy from the Volgograd Region.

According to him, in villages with small populations and, consequently, low demand, businesses will not work to their detriment, but create some kind of preferences for them - significant expenses that can be dispensed with. In addition, in such places, as a rule, entrepreneurs face a shortage of personnel, and no one wants to work in a place with a low salary.

Recent examples include residents of the villages of the Chikchinsky municipal district in the Tyumen region, who have to go to the nearest settlement 20 km away for pills. In August, Sergei Leonov, chairman of the Committee on Health Protection, was approached with a complaint from the Tenistovsky rural settlement in Crimea. It includes five villages, in which about 3 thousand people live. "And all these people are forced to travel to neighboring settlements for medicines — at least 25 km," the deputy noted. In this regard, the parliamentarian appealed to the owner of the local chain with a request to open a pharmacy in the settlement.

The same problem in 2023 overtook the residents of the Trunovsky district in Stavropol. Then the regional prosecutor's office appealed to the court. In the same year, the Klenovskoye municipality in the Sverdlovsk Region found itself in the same situation. For several months, they were unable to buy or order the necessary medicines.

In 2024, the State Duma has already taken the first steps to address the problem of access to medicines in rural areas. Then the deputies passed a law allowing medical centers (the same FAPs) to sell medicines, Yulia Ogloblina, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Agrarian Issues, recalled in a conversation with Izvestia.

— Now we are taking the next step: mobile pharmacy points will allow us to deliver a basic set of vital drugs directly to populated areas where there is no pharmacy infrastructure. Residents of such territories often know in advance the schedule of arrival of mobile medical care. It is important to give them the opportunity to order the necessary medicines in advance so that the arrival of the pharmacy would be really useful and predictable," the deputy explained.

Thus, the law on mobile pharmacies represents an important stage in increasing the availability of medicine in rural areas, she concludes. Izvestia sent a request to the Ministry of Health to clarify whether the new measure would help solve this problem definitively.

The initiative of the deputies is really capable of bringing tangible benefits to Russians, Nikolai Bespalov, Director of development at the RNC Pharma analytical company, told Izvestia. At the same time, according to the expert, the problem raised by the deputies could also be solved by expanding the sale of medicines through online commerce.

— Unfortunately, we currently have legal restrictions on the sale of prescription drugs with delivery. In fact, it would be possible to simply form normal rules for the online sale of drugs, the expert believes.

At the same time, he stressed that the deputies' initiative deserves attention. And Oleg Lyakhovenko, a senior researcher at the Department of Russian Politics at the Faculty of Political Science at Lomonosov Moscow State University, added in a conversation with Izvestia: it will be important to ensure not only the availability of medicines, but also the safety and security of drugs.