Digi24 reported on 12 November that a recent HartaFarmacii.ro study found no pharmacy in 486 Romanian communes. The finding puts a concrete number on a rural access gap: for residents without a local pharmacy, obtaining medicines can mean distance, transport costs and reliance on someone else.
The report described residents in some communes walking kilometres for medicines or paying others to take them, or to collect treatment for them. In Dodești, Vaslui County, Digi24 reported that residents travel to Bârlad, about 30 kilometres away, in an emergency. These are reported local experiences, not a measure of conditions in every rural community, but they show how the absence of a nearby pharmacy can turn a routine purchase into a logistical burden.
Digi24 also contrasted those accounts with pharmacies located close together on a Bucharest boulevard. Urban pharmacy density does not substitute for a local point of access in a commune without one: a medicine on sale in a city still requires time, fare or a lift to reach it.
A public-health management expert cited by Digi24 said limited access may lead some people to use expired medicines, prescriptions written for others or remedies without a scientific basis. The report does not establish how often this happens, but the warning identifies a plausible health risk when travel becomes part of obtaining everyday treatment.
Digi24's account does not provide the HartaFarmacii.ro study's methodology, reference date, list of communes, affected population or an explanation for the gaps. It also contains no response from authorities or pharmacy-sector bodies. The immediate issue raised by the reported figure is practical: how can residents obtain medicines reliably when their commune has no pharmacy?
Sources
- Digi24 · Source date: 2026-11-12
Independent editorial content. WUA is not affiliated with any political party. 2026-11-12