Tag:healthcare=pharmacy

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Public-images-osm logo.svg healthcare = pharmacy
Boots The Chemist At Gunwharf Quays.jpg
Description
A shop where a pharmacist sells prescription medications. Used in addition to amenity=pharmacyShow/edit corresponding data item.
Group: health
Used on these elements
may be used on nodesshould not be used on waysmay be used on areas (and multipolygon relations)should not be used on relations (except multipolygon relations)
Useful combination
Status: in use

A pharmacy is a shop where a pharmacist sells prescription medications. The most common tag for this feature is amenity=pharmacy, but healthcare=pharmacy is sometimes added.

Typically the sale of medications is regulated by the government, and pharmacists are typically licensed by the government to sell certain medications which cannot be sold at other shops. Stores that sell other items typically found in pharmacies such as personal care items, but that do not sell regulated medications, should be not be tagged as amenity=pharmacy or healthcare=pharmacy, but instead perhaps as shop=chemist.

How to map

Set a node node at the center of the feature or draw an area area along its outline.

Add healthcare=pharmacy and name=*. All are also tagged with amenity=pharmacy in addition.

Tags to use in combination

Tag history

Multiple healthcare=* tags were introduced by healthcare proposal. This tag duplicating amenity=pharmacy was not introduced by this proposal. Author of the healthcare proposal wanted to deprecate amenity=pharmacy and replace it with shop=pharmacy, but due to strong opposition to deprecating amenity=pharmacy this was abandoned.

This tag started to be used later anyway, with intention to

  1. Add healthcare=pharmacy to existing amenity=pharmacy objects
  2. Add support in at least prominent data consumers for also healthcare=pharmacy in addition to supporting amenity=pharmacy
  3. Remove support for amenity=pharmacy in data consumers and remove this tag from pharmacies

There is opposition to this potential deprecation of widely used tag amenity=pharmacy[1]. There is some support but it is often motivated by "this is part of the accepted proposal"[2][3].

References