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Pharmacy owners held a sit-in in front of the union headquarters in the museum to protest the lack of medicines available in pharmacies, demanding that the Union of Drug Importers adopt a fair distribution and increase the quantities distributed in proportion to the needs of citizens.
They issued a statement saying: “Despite inflation, the collapse of the lira exchange rate and the rise in all costs of living and commodity prices, we have never demanded an increase in the price of goods. medicines or the elimination of support for them, due to our concern for the interests of people and their livelihood, knowing that this has led us to lose 80% of the value of medicines. In our pharmacies, drug importers overlooked us with the trends in the legalization of drugs in pharmacies in contravention of the law, especially article 70 of the Law on the Exercise of the Pharmacy Profession, and that we who We care about the patient and their health, we cannot silence these transgressions of the right for the patient to obtain their medicine, and we also note discretion in the unfair distribution of medicines. Among pharmacies, leading to an abundance of lucky pharmacies and a total blackout in most pharmacies, leading to the possibility of incentivizing drug traffickers to buy whatever they want to smuggle from a location they agree to, facilitate illegal trade and directly affect the health of the citizen.
Claims statements
Union of drug importers to adopt a fair distribution between pharmacies and increase the quantities distributed in proportion to the needs of citizens. The closing of pharmacies on Tuesday 10/13/2020 is a warning to agents not to deliver drugs to other pharmacies that are not authorized. We also call on the Minister of Public Health of the interim government, Hamad Hassan, to put an end to these irregular behaviors and assign the pharmaceutical inspection of the ministry to control the warehouses of these companies, count the quantities of medicines available and compare them with what they deliver to pharmacies in meager quantities of drugs for additional profit once the subsidy is lifted and prices rise.
In Tire, and in view of the exhaustion of the quantity of medicines that the medicine distribution companies delivered to the pharmacies in the region, the latter carried out a warning strike.
In Nabatiyeh, several Nabatieh pharmacies participated in the warning strike.
In Marjayoun, pharmacies took part in the strike, and the representative of the Pharmacists’ Union in Marjayoun and Jezzine, Georgina Nematullah Mahfouz, asked the agents to treat the pharmacies equally and deliver the drugs according to their monthly consumption and no less .
Jezzine, Hasbaya, Al-Arqoub, Aley Al-Shouf, Matn Al-A’la, Baalbek and Jbeil pharmacies participated in the strike.
In Tripoli, the pharmacist Abd al-Rahman Marqbawi delivered a speech in which he considered that “today’s movement is a cry of pain because we are no longer able to fulfill our duty to relieve the pain of citizens and assure them of the medicine that need. Our pharmacies have been empty of medicines for 3 months, especially chronic ones, which caused an avalanche of patients to store medicines. . We are not drug traffickers to be accused of monopolizing them, but victims of the monopoly of companies and distributors ”.
Participants in the pharmacists strike
A strike in and around Sidon
From Sidon, colleague Thuraya Hassan Zuaiter reported that a large number of pharmacy owners in and around the Saida region went on a warning strike, closing their pharmacies and hanging a poster apologizing to customers for their inability to meet your drug demands.
And they indicated in a letter of protest, that “for not delivering the quantities they need from the distribution companies, they decided to close today”, stressing that “the companies must reverse their decision and provide them with the required quantities of drugs”, and demanded “The need to address the crisis suffered by the sector after losing a series of There are many medications, especially chronic medications, so the health of the citizen is in danger.”
Sidon Pharmacy “Apology List”
The pharmacy owners attribute the reason to the fact that “the agents do not distribute the drugs to them in the required quantities, as a consequence of the repercussions of the financial and economic crisis in the country and the shortage of dollars. In addition, leaks about the possibility of The Banque du Liban’s move to lift drug subsidies has led citizens to rush to buy and store drugs. ” And they demanded “a quick solution to this crisis.”
Pharmacist Wissam Baasiri said: “Today we carried out a warning strike and closed our pharmacies in a letter of objection to the need to address this crisis that affects the health of citizens. Our problem is that we do not receive the required quantities of medicines from the distribution companies, which in turn face the problem of obtaining the dollar to secure orders, and therefore those involved have to solve this problem, otherwise we are on the edge the worst and every day we fall as pharmacy owners with problems with citizens who do not find their demand for drugs, especially chronic drugs. The problem is not there for us as pharmacy owners. So today this is a warning step through which we hope that our voice will reach out to address the problem as soon as possible.
An indication that a large number of pharmacies in Sidon and its surroundings decided to close their doors until twelve noon and some more until three in the afternoon, due to the feeling that citizens had to buy urgent medicines during the day.
Consumers association: suing pharmacies and monopoly groups
The statement from the Consumers Association – Lebanon indicated that “the drug has entered the storage and monopoly stage. Medicines, such as diesel and food, will soon bring in the end of support, for traders of all kinds, fantastic profits that will reach 600 percent, at least. The period of validity is not a problem in Lebanon: worms, mites and mold spread in stored food, as confirmed by the daily contacts of citizens with the association.
He added: “As for expired drugs, they expire or become toxic substances. The authorities and their merchants are the ones who put the country in this existential situation. Since the beginning of the crisis, they have insisted on moving the remaining dollars into the pockets of merchants instead of directly supporting groups in need, as the association suggested from day one. The choice of authority to support its merchants and banks is a continuation of the control of this destructive alliance that formed the ruling deep state 30 years ago. “
He continued: “The authority and the Minister of Health, despite repeated warnings from the association, have sought to support importers rather than support patients. We said, why subsidize “brand name” drugs and those of the rich? The entire world in crisis supports only basic (generic) medicines, which according to the World Health Organization do not exceed 200 medicines. The savings that would have come if the assembly’s proposal had been implemented could have exceeded 80%, who created this dangerous situation in all sectors is the choice of authority and its deep state. Importers, warehouses and pharmacies are responsible for hiding drugs and must be sued. Where is the inspection and the judiciary? But the Minister of Health is still the first person in charge.
