Legal and organisational innovation in the Italian pharmacy system: commercial vs public interest

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 495-513 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alceste Santuari

AbstractPharmacy services are undoubtedly an important part of primary care. Pharmacists are entrepreneurs and simultaneously they are entrusted with a public mission in the health care sector. Pharmacies then reflect a contrast between a commercial/economic objective and public interest, which is to be identified with citizens’ universal right to health care services. This is the reason why in Italy, as in many other EU countries, pharmacies supply their services according to a prior authorisation granted by public authorities. In common with many EU countries, this authorisation is secured according to a demographic criterion. It is only by means of these licensed pharmacies that citizens can buy drugs under medical prescription. Accordingly, the health system is to be driven by public interest, which has yet to prove how competing interests may be regulated in serving health needs. In the light of EU law, the article advocates for an innovative legal and organisational tool whereby to organise the Italian pharmacy system in order to combine economic consideration and public benefit.

Obiter ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Maimela

Does the right to health care services as provided in terms of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, cater for cancer patients due to the expensive nature of cancer treatment and, if so, to what extent? One of the major socio-economic rights which cancer patients struggle to access is the right to health care services, which is currently dependent on the economic or financial position of a cancer patient, which is, unfortunately, the deciding factor in South Africa as well the entire continent of Africa. The financial or economic standing of a patient or a cancer patient, in this case, will determine if the patient will receive adequate cancer treatment or not. Does the economic or financial position of the cancer patient serve as a valid and justifiable reason for the right to access to health care services to the 75 per cent of people in South Africa who rely on public health care services for different health deformities that include cancer and, if so, to what extent?


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y.Y. Brandon Chen

This article examines how health care services in Canada are denied to precarious status migrants, either through outright exclusion based on immigration status, or due to the realities in migrants’ lives that make it difficult for them to access health care services. The author argues that this situation is unfair, given the contribution made by precarious status migrants to Canada’s sociocultural and economic fabric, and exhorts the courts and policymakers to do more to make health care services available to these migrants.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-168
Author(s):  
Claire Adionyi

The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) provides for the right to the highest attainable standard of health. Kenya has ratified this Covenant and is, therefore, bound by its provisions. The Constitution of Kenya (2010) further establishes a framework for expanding rights and freedoms under Article 24 (4). The Constitution expressly provides for the right to health under Article 43 (1), which led to the enactment of the Health Act in 2017 (the Act). Article 43 (1) (a) of the Constitution states: 'Every person has the right to the highest attainable standard of health, which includes the right to health care services, including reproductive health care.' On this light, the right to health will be analyzed in the following lines.


2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susana J. Ferradas ◽  
G. Nicole Rider ◽  
Johanna D. Williams ◽  
Brittany J. Dancy ◽  
Lauren R. Mcghee

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