In one sense, it's amazing there are still as many independent pharmacies as there are in Ontario. It's nine years since a report on trends in community pharmacies in Canada noted the hit small drugstores were seeing from discount drug stores and the introduction of in-house pharmacies, with lower professional fees, at discount stores such as Wal-Mart and Zellers, and full-service supermarkets.

The problems were compounded in Ontario in 2006 with the implementation of legislation -- the Transparent Drug System for Patients Act -- designed to save on the costs of drug coverage the province provides to seniors and others under the Ontario Drug Benefit program. Among other things, the small pharmacists feared the gap between their costs of operation and reimbursement from the government.

Independent pharmacists also recently found support -- in a report from Ontario Pharmacists' Association and the Canadian Association of Chain Drug Stores -- for their contention that government-set dispensing fees are too low, and they are more vulnerable than large pharmacies. The Independent Pharmacists Association of Ontario notes that these fees have only increased by 89 cents over the past 15 years.

The association, which was founded in response to the 2006 drug system act, is in full advocacy mode on the second anniversary of the enactment of the legislation. As part of that of push, this newspaper was informed that independent pharmacists in this city are in danger of going out of business, and "thousands of Guelph residents are in danger of losing their local pharmacy and the invaluable one-on-one time they spend with their pharmacist -- time that may save their life."

It's one thing to sound the alarm and another to be alarmist.

Yes, independent pharmacists are under siege, but they have been for more than a decade, and while their numbers are diminishing, still they survive.

Those who patronize small pharmacies do so for a reason -- location, the confidence they have with the pharmacist and the special services some provide, to name a few.

Competition will remain fierce, but a publicity blitz that touts the pluses of independent pharmacies just may help keep these important small businesses in operation.