The cantonal council approved the sale of the cantonal pharmacy to the Zurich University Hospital on Monday.
The canton pharmacy is now definitely to be sold to the university hospital.
Actually, the matter was already in the dry cloths. For more than four years, the Zurich Parliament had grappled with the controversial sale of the canton pharmacy to the Zurich University Hospital. At the end of September, the solution was finally on the table, and the majority of parliament backed the new law.
But then there was a surprising turn. As soon as the law was discussed in parliament, a consortium emerged that had never been heard of before. According to their own statements, this is a financially strong merger of companies from the pharmaceutical, logistics and manufacturing sectors. The group announced at a media conference that it would buy the canton pharmacy.
The consortium also includes the former Central Canton Councilor Lorenz Schmid. The president of the pharmacists’ association was always one of the loudest critics of the canton pharmacy. He described it to the NZZ as an “unprofitable, oversized colossus” for which millions of francs of tax money would probably be burned.
Schmid’s main criticism of the new law was that it would allow the university hospital to compete with the private canton pharmacy, which is in high deficit. And all this with strong start-up financing. Because in order to make the business palatable for the university hospital, a two-digit million sum is to be written off at the pharmacy.
FDP wants public tender
From the point of view of the critics, the paragraph that allows pharmacies to sell medicines to hospitals and other healthcare institutions, such as nursing homes, is particularly problematic. In addition, she could also dispense medication directly to the patient, not only when they leave the hospital, but also over a longer period of time.
In this situation, the said consortium wanted to take matters into their own hands. And that went down well with the FDP. Cantonal Councilor Bettina Balmer (Zurich) submitted a motion to reject the bill with the aim that the sale of the cantonal pharmacy would have to be put out to tender.
And this is exactly what was discussed in the cantonal council on Monday. Balmer himself was absent, which is why her party colleague Linda Camenisch (Wallisellen) read her statement. The FDP has always been open to a public tender, she said. With the purchase offer now available, it is only logical to reject the submission to the government.
However, they must move the matter forward quickly, and the result of the tender should be available by the end of March. “A final delay of five months is reasonable in view of the long duration of treatment in this business.” However, the FDP also found it a bit strange that the consortium had only now announced its interest, although Lorenz Schmid had followed the business from the front line.
“How can the worthless pharmacy suddenly be a pearl?”
This was also the case for the other parties. Andreas Daurù (SP, Winterthur) spoke of a “Kafkaesque detour” that the never-ending story of the canton pharmacy had completed. “After the canton pharmacy was described as worthless until recently, it is now suddenly supposed to be a gem that a motley consortium wants to buy.” It doesn’t look very trustworthy.
Jeannette Büsser (Greens, Zurich) doubled down: “We don’t know more about this consortium than that, according to its own statements, it should be financially strong.” Schmid had always fought the proposal, and now he suddenly wanted to buy the canton pharmacy, which seemed strange. “We are not ready to take part in this blockade game.”
The head of health, Natalie Rickli (SVP), who found out about the purchase offer from the press, also wondered whether this action was only intended to further delay the process. It takes at least a year for a tender anyway, and a new law is also needed for a sale to private individuals. “Five months could end up being five years.”
Apart from that, it is also important that the pharmacy is connected to a hospital. The Canton Pharmacy produces 46,000 individual cancer therapies for the university hospital alone. It is also possible today to dispense medication to patients. There is simply no better solution than selling it to the university hospital.
Parliament saw it the same way. Apart from the FDP, nobody was enthusiastic about the rejection. The cantonal council rejected the application by 139 votes to 27 and subsequently approved the new law.
The consortium is disappointed with the decision of the cantonal council. Now it is up to the Federal Competition Commission to check whether the implementation of the proposal is legal at all, says Rolf Walther, former FDP cantonal councilor and president of the consortium. The pharmacists’ association had filed a complaint against the canton of Zurich because the bill violated economic freedom in various respects and distorted competition. Depending on the result, the consortium will dissolve or take up the topic again.