Pharmaceutical and medical profession

The original law stipulated that "physicians should provide a prescription to the sick person and receive an appropriate consultation fee," but due to a shortage of pharmacists, for the time being, "physicians may be granted a provisional license to open a pharmacy and be permitted to dispense medicines upon request." Since then, the pharmaceutical law has been revised many times, but the practice of practicing medicine and pharmacy simultaneously has continued to be recognized to this day, even in legal terms, although the wording may differ. In 1951, the American occupation forces after World War II recommended the implementation of separation of medical and pharmaceutical functions, and a revision of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law was made, known as the "Medical and Pharmaceutical Separation Law." However, due to a demand to expand the scope of "cases in which medical and dental practitioners do not need to issue prescriptions," the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law that came into effect in 1955 was still incomplete with regard to separation of medical and pharmaceutical functions.

*Some of the terminology that refers to "dual-practice medicine" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…医師は処方書を病家に附与し相当の診察料を受くべし〉と規定されたが，薬剤師の絶対数の不足を理由に，当分の間医師に〈願により薬舗開業の仮免状を授け調薬を許す〉とした。以後医薬の法制は何回も改正されたが，医薬兼業の慣習は，法制面でも表現の違いこそあれ今日まで認められつづけている。　1951年，第2次大戦後のアメリカ占領軍によって医薬分業の実施が勧告されて〈医薬分業法〉といわれる薬事法改定が行われたが，〈医師･歯科医師が処方箋を発行しなくてもよい場合〉の拡大要求から，55年施行の薬事法は医薬分業に関しては不徹底のままとなった。…

※「医薬兼業」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報