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Today they prepare for another uprising. On this occasion, the invitation was broad and the reasons were more than a simple royalty, provided that “this first warning step will be followed by gradual steps in the event that the downward trend continues as it is,” according to the statement issued yesterday. by the pharmacy owners assembly. And while this morning meeting did not lead to anything more than the signing of the pharmacists of the “Symposium of Pharmacists in the Party of the Phalanges”, it soon became a comprehensive declaration with the union of the “interests” of pharmacists in various parties and regions. Thus, hours after the symposium’s statement was released, the Pharmacists Association of the Free Patriotic Movement, the Future Movement, the National Democratic Rally and the Islamic Society of Pharmacists announced their support for the warning strike, even if the “hours “Warning” varied between them. While the symposium called for an all-day closure, others, including the Islamic Society, called for it to be closed for a maximum of 4 hours.
It is a question of options for pharmacists, since it is not at the service of the citizens, however, the reasons recently collected made it difficult to think of less “hostile” options. It is true that the reward is still among the reasons, but what was added was “the reason for our arrival here,” says the author of the invitation, head of the Symposium of Pharmacists in the Brigades, Joe Salloum. According to Salloum, at the top of that list is the state’s “triad”, the Banque du Liban, the Union of Drug Importers. These three arms, according to Salloum, are “those who humiliated the citizen and left our pharmacies free of medicines.”
(Haitham Al-Mousawi)
However, the responsibilities are not the same here; The responsibility of the State, according to the pharmacists themselves, is almost limited to sitting idly by without using their powers. This cannot be compared to what the Governor of the Banque du Liban, Riad Salameh, did in a few months, and what drug importers and pharmaceutical factories followed in Lebanon. Salameh has done in the last two months what the financial crisis has not done for about a year, since his successive declarations about the possibility of withdrawing drug subsidies due to lack of import dollars reflected the panic among citizens who they began rushing to buy and store drugs for fear of disruptions or high prices. With the importers union taking a new approach to distribution, it was more difficult than … rationing the power. Here, pharmacists complain that importers are required to pay “cash” for the drug. However, Salloum asserts that the “cash” problem is hardly mentioned in light of the “discretionary behavior of importers, which reinforces the control of large pharmacies over small ones”, in addition to “the delay in drug delivery” . While we used to receive the drug the day after your request, today you need a full week. “In addition, the rationing policy has reached the point of” delivering the drug to us based on last year’s data, that is, based on what we were getting at that time, ”according to Hammoud Al-Mousawi, president of the Islamic Pharmacy Association.
Pharmacists can understand the drug importers union’s argument for adopting the rationing option in the context of holding stocks, but what they don’t understand is “discretionary use.” At a time when a normal pharmacy receives “3 packages of Panadol, another pharmacy receives 6 boxes,” according to pharmacist Ali Ezz El-Din. Pharmacists see no explanation for this other than the “collusion” of business owners with some large distributors and owners of warehouses and pharmacies: the mafia, “a network that works on the line of smuggling drugs abroad after it has become very cheap. ” Additionally, some pharmacists speak of “department store and pharmacy owners who have recently sent some people to pick up drugs from pharmacies.”
The state “triad” – Banque du Liban – importers is behind the drug disruption crisis
It is true that these accusations have no documented evidence, but it is possible to trust here the discussions of the Parliamentary Health Committee, whose president, Assem Araji, spoke about an active smuggling movement “on the line of Iraq, Libya and even Syria.” It is true that these discussions did not reach the level of investigation, however, what worries the committee is the answer to the question: Where did the drugs go if the BDL spent $ 775 million on imports this year? It is “only 10% less than last year.” Where did you go? Araji finds only one of two things: “It’s a buffer or something he’s avoiding,” and there is no third option. Those involved are many, from importers to warehouse owners, through national drug factories, who took advantage of the permission of the Ministry of Health to export drugs for commercial purposes, to some pharmacists. In the last point, the Ministry of Public Health yesterday suspended two pharmacies with a double function: buying and storing drugs in preparation for their smuggling. The first, according to Health Minister Hamad Hassan, said: “He bought a large quantity of medicine kits to treat cancer at a subsidized price and sells them abroad.”
A complex episode … sponsored by the Banque du Liban and the protection of merchants, citizens and pharmacies that do not belong to the mafia were victims of it. This is a responsibility that falls to the State, which has not complied with the powers granted by law in terms of imposing its control over “all those involved in the medication file,” according to the head of the National Health Authority, Dr. Ismail Sukkariyya. The latter, represented by the Ministry of Public Health, did not realize its powers, except when “the cow fell”, the Sukkariya was tampered with.
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