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The Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission will conduct a thorough investigation of pharmacies across Fiji.

This initiative, led by Chief Executive Joel Abraham, aims to address any issues that might be affecting competition in the pharmacy market.

Last year, amendments were made to the Pharmacy Profession Act, granting the FCCC the power to approve pharmacy businesses and their premises, ensuring they operate in compliance with the law.

Currently, there are 97 pharmacies in Fiji.

“A total of 12 new pharmacy business authorization has been issued by the FCCC since we became the regulator in 2022. Seven of these are in the Central division, four in the western and one is Savusavu. The 97 are distributed as follows, 52 in the central division, 38 in the western division and seven in the northern division with two in Savusavu. There are four private hospitals also operating as pharmacies.”

Abraham claims several concerns about pharmacy ownership have recently come to light.

“That is why FCCC has taken a review of the market itself and we will do a whole market-wide investigation. We will not go into a witch-hunt, we will do a market-wide investigation and find out any issues that may affect competition, any agreements or understanding that may exist, at this stage we have completed our inspections of

The CEO of FCCC emphasizes their role in receiving applications for new premises and renewals and adhering to legal procedures.

Abraham clarifies they lack the legal authority to probe fund transfers but are willing to offer assistance to the appropriate authority conducting such investigations if required.