Pharmacies closed their doors today, Thursday, April 13, in implementation of a strike called by four professional syndicates.
About 12,000 pharmacies participated in a 24-hour strike, without securing a guard period, in an attempt to pressure the government to respond to the professionals’ demands.
According to the data obtained by Hespress, all pharmacies participated in this strike, with the exception of some pharmacies in Oujda and Casablanca, which opened their doors in implementation of a general decision, in order to meet the urgent need of citizens for medicines.
Dr. Hassan Atesh, head of the Syndicate Chamber of Fez Pharmacists, said in a statement to Hespress that the strike had achieved its goals by reuniting pharmacists, “indeed, distribution companies entered the line as well, and expressed their absolute solidarity with the sector.”
According to Atesh, this strike “carried multidimensional messages through solidarity among the profession, and communication with the media and society to clarify the reasons and reasons for this step.”
The spokesman hopes that the concerned authorities have picked up the pharmacists’ messages, stressing that “the file has reached the furthest point, and it is expected that the prime minister will intervene to solve it.” Pharmacy by those who do not have a legal status.
The same professional continued: “Medicines are sold today on the Internet, in markets, and in some stores, and some associations are now selling them, as is the case with medicines for diabetes, which is dangerous in terms of the absence of the source,” adding: “The pharmacists’ messages have arrived, And if a serious dialogue is not opened with us, we will announce other escalatory steps.”
In the government’s first interaction with the pharmacists’ strike, Mustafa Paytas, Minister Delegate to the Prime Minister in charge of relations with Parliament, confirmed in a press conference today, Thursday, after the end of the government council’s work, that “the government is proud of pharmacists as partners, and will continue dialogue with them,” noting that “ The Minister of Health and Social Protection held a serious and responsible meeting with pharmacists in order to discuss various issues, whether related to representation or to the constraints experienced by the sector.
The pharmacists’ unions announced that they would go on strike in response to what they described as “the fragile economic situation of pharmacies.”
Pharmacists confirmed that 3,000 pharmacies out of 12,000 are on the verge of bankruptcy, but they stressed that they avoid closure given its consequences and the costs incurred by the owners.
The pharmacists carried out their strike despite holding a meeting with the Minister of Health, Khaled Ait Taleb, on Thursday, April 6.
The pharmacists’ unions stated that the Minister of Health and Social Protection, Khaled Ait Taleb, interacted with the interventions of the union representatives, and expressed the ministry’s readiness to work with the national trade union centers and open channels of dialogue, in order to achieve the principle of a participatory approach with professionals in addressing the various professional problems of the pharmacy sector.
The unions stressed that this meeting remains preliminary, and its features and the extent of the ministry’s involvement in dealing with the demand file of pharmacists were not clear, in light of the professional tension the sector is witnessing in the current circumstances, and a break with professionals that lasted for several years.
On the other hand, the Moroccan League for Consumer Rights, in a previous communication, refused to involve the consumer and exploit it as a means of pressure in order to achieve class interests at the expense of the public interest, and called on the concerned authorities to assume their responsibilities, in response to the pharmacists’ call to citizens to acquire medicines before the strike date.
A report by the Supreme Court of Accounts sparked widespread anger among pharmacists, after it stated that their profits ranged between 47 percent and 57 percent, depending on the drug categories.