"Unmanned pharmacies" pilot projects in many places across the country to solve the problem of finding drugs late at night

In recent years, with the rapid development of technology, unmanned supermarkets, unmanned convenience stores, unmanned hotels, etc.
have gradually entered our lives.
Retail pharmacies are no exception.
With the acceleration of the intelligentization process, “unmanned "Pharmacy stores" have been piloted in Shenyang, Anji, Zhejiang and other places across the country to solve the problem of finding drugs late at night
.
On June 20, 2020, the media reported that X-Lab, the first unmanned intelligent pharmacy in China, was unveiled in Shenyang and officially began operations
.
It is understood that customers only need to follow the process to purchase drugs independently, complete a series of operations such as scanning the code to enter the store, selecting the product on the smart interactive screen, taking the drug according to the indicator light, and non-sense settlement, etc.
, which is convenient and fast, and can buy even in the early morning.
the respiratory, intestinal, trauma and other commonly used drugs needed
.
Compared with the traditional pharmacy model, the "unmanned pharmacy" is more intelligent and convenient.
It can provide a 24-hour full service of consultation, drug purchase, and settlement, which can meet the needs of consumers for some daily medication and chronic disease medication.
Convenient consultation and purchase of medicines can be realized without queuing in medical institutions
.
At the same time, "unmanned pharmacies" are also conducive to reducing the labor costs of pharmaceutical retail pharmacies and breaking the dilemma of losing both pharmacies and consumers
.
It is worth mentioning that medicines are special commodities, and the new retail format of unmanned medicines needs to comply with policies and regulations to ensure the safety of medicines
.
At present, most of the unmanned drug vending machines mainly sell over-the-counter drugs
.
It is understood that with the liberalization of online sales of prescription drugs, many places have also liberalized the types of drugs sold through smart medicine cabinets.
Policies issued in some places have allowed prescription drugs to be placed and sold in smart medicine cabinets
.
For example, on July 1 this year, Hubei Province issued the "Hubei Province Social Pharmacy Supervision and Management Measures (Trial)" and publicly solicited opinions from the society
.
The “Automatic Drug Sales Regulations” in Article 12 of the Measures mentioned that social pharmacies with Internet drug sales qualifications can set up remote medicine cabinets to provide automatic drug sales services.
It is clear that those with basic service capabilities can only sell non-prescription drugs; Pharmaceutical service ability, can sell prescription drugs at the same time; only sell over-the-counter drugs, implement the report management system; sell prescription drugs, implement the record management system
.
On March 24 this year, the Yantai Municipal Market Supervision Bureau issued the "Administrative Regulations on the Sale of Drugs in Smart Medicine Storage Cabinets in Yantai (Trial)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations")
.
The “Regulations” also clarify that when prescription drugs are sold through smart medicine storage cabinets, the electronic prescriptions obtained must be issued by Internet hospitals approved by law
.
To sell prescription drugs through the smart medicine storage cabinet, a terminal should be set up to connect to the Internet hospital, and the prescription issued by the Internet hospital for the patient online can be dispensed and sold after being reviewed by the prescription pharmacist on the remote prescription service platform
.
It is reported that on June 28, Yantai's first smart medicine storage cabinet that can sell prescription drugs and over-the-counter drugs has been approved and put into use
.
Subsequently, Hubei Province issued a document stating that social pharmacies with Internet drug sales qualifications can sell prescription drugs through remote medicine cabinets (automatic medicine vending machines)
.
From the perspective of the industry, unmanned pharmacies have already appeared in people’s vision.
The epidemic has made people re-recognize the advantages of unmanned retail.
The advancement of unmanned pharmacies has also made some substantial progress this year.
It may be promoted nationwide.
It's just a matter of time
.
But we also need to see that so far, there are not many cases that can be widely accepted by the market, so whether unmanned pharmacies can be further promoted or developed will have to pass the market test
.