HIBAPRESS – Abdelatif Baraka
The central trade unions representing pharmacy pharmacists announced, following a coordination meeting that brought together their leaders, their absolute rejection of the recommendation contained in a study issued by the Competition Council regarding the liberalization of pharmacy capital, considering that this trend would affect the essence of the profession and the nature of the pharmacy as a health facility before it is a commercial activity. Both the National Federation of Pharmacists' Unions of Morocco, the National Union of Pharmacists of Morocco, and the National Syndicate of Pharmacists of Morocco affirmed that the professional and historical responsibility they bear requires them to enlighten public opinion in a statement numbered 2, with what they considered real risks threatening the stability of the drug system in Morocco.
In this context, the trade union bodies denounced what they described as unjustified exclusion of professional representations from the discussion related to the study, considering that the comparison with foreign experiences was made in the absence of taking into account the specificities of the national health reality, which is based on a network of pharmacies that play a pivotal role in ensuring proximity and daily service to citizens. The central organizations believe that opening pharmacy capital to investment capital and major companies will practically lead to the transformation of medicine into a commodity subject to market logic and the law of supply and demand, which means, in their view, the transfer of the patient from the position of beneficiary of an ethically framed health service to a mere number within profit calculations. They also warned that any "unregulated liberalization" could push capital to concentrate in large cities with economic viability, in exchange for a gradual withdrawal from villages and remote areas, which will deepen spatial disparities in access to medicine and pharmaceutical consultation. They stressed that the specificity of the profession requires the presence of a citizen pharmacist, committed to his health mission, who performs his duties even in fragile areas, to ensure the continuity of service and protect the constitutional right to treatment. In contrast to this trend, the bodies stressed that the real reform of the sector does not pass through drowning it in unequal competition, but through addressing existing imbalances, and modernizing the legal and regulatory framework to ensure the sustainability of pharmacies and the development of their professional performance. The central organizations concluded their statement by emphasizing that they have preferred the approach of dialogue and social peace, but they will not stand idly by in the face of what they consider a direct threat to the future of the profession and the health of the citizen, announcing their unanimous agreement to engage in successive national strikes with an escalating duration, with holding a federal council of regional unions to determine the date of the first general national strike, in addition to coordinating with pharmacy college students across the various regions of the Kingdom, within the framework of a comprehensive mobilization to defend what they describe as the "safety bridge" represented by the pharmacist within the national health system.
