Pharmacy on the territory of today's Slovakia reaches back to the Middle Ages. Bratislava's pharmacy "U červeného raka" (At the Red Crab) is documented from the 16th century and houses the Museum of Pharmacy today. As elsewhere in Central Europe, the preparation of medicines gradually separated from medical prescribing through guilds, official pharmacopoeias and, later, university training.
Town pharmacies and pharmacist guilds controlled the quality of medicines and ran apprenticeship training. Organised pharmacy duty rosters emerged in the 20th century, when pharmaceutical care was systematically regulated.
Modern Slovak pharmacies combine dispensing, counselling, public-health services and duty coverage. The profession is regulated nationally, with the Slovak Chamber of Pharmacists overseeing the profession.