Egyptian pharmacists have threatened to close their doors if police inspections do not stop, reports Reem Leila On Saturday the Egyptian Pharmacists' Syndicate (EPS) threatened that pharmacies could close their doors in response to a wave of inspection campaigns by the police. The police, claiming they are searching for expired and smuggled drugs, have detained a number of pharmacists, many of whom were taken from their premises in handcuffs. Zakareya Gad, head of the EPS, says the detentions are unjustified. More than 150 pharmacists have been arrested across Egypt, he says, accused of keeping expired medicines beyond their expiry date and selling sedatives and other prescription drugs under the counter. In the past, regular quarterly inspections, supplemented by occasional spot checks, have been coordinated by the Ministry of Health and EPS, undertaken by a representative of each. "Under Law 127/1955 and in accordance with the decree issued in 2003 by the Central Administration for Pharmacy Affairs, the police are not authorised to check on pharmacies," says Gad. Only if inspection teams discover violations, which they are legally obliged to report, can the police interfere. Mohamed Abu Shady, the minister of interior's assistant for supply and trade affairs, insists that the police have the right to be part of the inspection teams and says the checks come as a response to complaints by members of the public. Many pharmacies, says Abu Shady, have expanded beyond their remit by selling toys, perfumes and sweets, as well as smuggled and unlicensed medicines. The ministry says it has confiscated 1.5 million smuggled or otherwise unsourced medicines. "The arrested pharmacists were all released on the same day though only 10 of them have paid bail," Abu Shady adds. Pharmacist Sanaa El-Naggar says it is normal for pharmacies to have expired medicines on their premises. "All pharmacists keep expired drugs waiting to be returned to the company on their premises. Without the bottles we cannot get back our money," she says. Ahmed Ramy, an EPS board member, believes the real reason behind the police inspection campaign is the recent agreement between Egypt and Jordan, signed in 2005, exempting Jordanian-produced pharmaceuticals from registering and pricing regulations, thus decreasing the price of medicine. "Only Jordan benefits from this agreement which gives it access to a population of more than 70 million while Egyptian producers gain access to just seven million Jordanians," he said. Ramy also points out that the government is preparing a new draft law heralding the privatisation of state-owned pharmacies. "It wants to force pharmacists into agreeing with the new law under which multinational companies will be able to buy the pharmacy chains owned and operated by the Holding Company for Pharmaceutical Industries," explained Ramy. Egypt's 26,000 pharmacies fear they will be hard-hit should multinational companies enter the drug retail market. Local pharmacists say they will be unable to compete with the advertising budgets of multinationals who, they fear, could easily exploit their market dominance by eventually pushing up the price of drugs. "Patients on low incomes will ultimately be the losers," believes Ramy. "Allowing multinational companies to enter the Egyptian market will increase the price of drugs as well as unemployment among pharmacists." More than 10,000 graduates of faculties of pharmacy enter the job market each year. The EPS has already convened an extraordinary general meeting and sent a memorandum to Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif asking that any authority apart from the Ministry of Health be prevented from meddling in pharmacists' affairs, that the agreement with Jordan be amended to protect the Egyptian industry and that restrictions be retained on the ownership of local pharmacies. "European countries which allowed foreign pharmaceutical companies into their countries have all seen massive closures of small pharmacies," says Ramy.
