Aptekarstwo polskie w świetle ustawodawstwa w latach 1944–1989

The nationalization of pharmacies in what was then Poland took place on the night of January 8–9, 1951, preceded by the enactment of the Act on the Acquisition of Pharmacies into State Ownership on January 8, 1951. The pharmacists, owners of private pharmacies, lost their pharmacies during nationalization, their property that had sometimes been built up over generations. The former owner was assigned a work order to another pharmacy. He could not refuse to work, since the penalties for obstructing the nationalization process and evading work were arrest and imprisonment. In addition to the loss of property, nationalized pharmacists and their families also suffered moral and intangible losses. Many pharmacists declined in health, dying within a few years with a sense of great injustice and harm. The nationalized pharmacists were left to fend for themselves, as on the same day, January 8, 1951, the abolition of the professional pharmacists’ selfgovernment took place under the Law on the Abolition of Pharmacy Chambers. This legal state of affairs continued for another 40 years, i.e. until 1991. But as early as 1987, the process of informal privatization of the pharmacy sector began. As a result of the process of privatization of pharmacies the former owners of pharmacies did not recover their property. In the early 1990s, the Supreme Audit Institution conducted an audit of the pharmacy privatization process, and in its report found numerous irregularities and a complete lack of transparency in the process. The audit found that the privatization process was “discretionary.” The sale of pharmacies was conducted “quickly and discreetly.” Instead of going to the rightful owners, the pharmacies went to people “with connections.”