Pharmacists up in arms

By Gihan Shahine

Pharmacists were angered that the bill imposes heavy penalties, including imprisonment, for trading in unregistered medicines, chemicals and medical products. Before the bill was passed by the Assembly, the imprisonment penalty was dropped, but hefty financial fines were doubled.

In protest, the pharmacists decided to "halt for one month all dealings with pharmaceutical production and distribution companies." In effect, this means that they will refuse to receive fresh supplies, which could cause a shortage of medicines on the local market. Any pharmacist who fails to abide by the resolution will have his syndicate membership suspended.

The pharmacists' general assembly also decided to expel Dr Gamila Moussa, first under-secretary at the Ministry of Health and director of the ministry's pharmaceutical department, from the syndicate.

Also, the assembly objected to a decision by Ahmed Gweili, minister of supply and trade, authorising inspection officials from the ministry to search pharmacies. Members insisted that pharmacies should be open to inspection only by officials from the Ministry of Health. The general assembly vowed to question the constitutionality of Gweili's decision before the courts of law.

Pharmacists will meet in a second general assembly on Monday to decide their next step.

In its modified form, the law imposes a fine ranging from LE20,000 to 50,000 on any pharmacist who sells, displays or manufactures unregistered medicines, chemicals or medical products. If the same offence is repeated, the fines would be doubled to LE40,000-100,000. A one-year imprisonment penalty in such cases was dropped.

But Article 80 of the new law remained unchanged. It provides that anybody who runs an unlicensed pharmacy will be punished by a year's imprisonment and a fine of LE5,000.

The issue of unregistered medicines came into the limelight after the male potency drug, Viagra, was smuggled into the country to be sold under the counter at exorbitant prices.

But Health Minister Ismail Sallam denied that the new law was a reaction to the illegal entrance of Viagra into the domestic market. He said the bill was part of a larger plan to combat irregularities in the pharmacist and medical professions and to protect consumers.

However, pharmacists did not buy that, arguing that the legislation put them on an equal footing with smugglers and black market dealers.

The syndicate's chairman, Zakaria Gad, had earlier written a complaint to Prime Minister Kamal El-Ganzouri. There were also reports that pharmacists had submitted a petition to President Hosni Mubarak, demanding that the bill be revoked.

"We refuse to be treated like criminals," Mahmoud Abdel-Maqsoud, the syndicate's general secretary, told Al Ahram Weekly. "Pharmacists are not smugglers. The Ministry of Health disregarded several proposals the syndicate put forward to terminate the illegal medicine trade."

Abdel-Maqsoud added that several medical products, such as gauze and cotton wool, are not registered with the Ministry of Health. "Should we get permits for such simple, yet necessary, medical supplies or be penalised?" he asked. "Or should we stop selling them?"

Others found the bill discriminatory. Ezzat Ismail, chairman of the syndicate's chapter in the governorate of Sharqiya, complained that the bill did not penalise doctors who prescribe the unregistered medicines. "The reason so many medicines are smuggled into the local market is that they are prescribed by doctors, although they are fully aware that these medicines are not registered," he said.

Ahmed Gibril, chairman of the syndicate's Alexandria chapter, for his part blamed the government's drug registration policy. "[It] has failed to meet demand and is thus directly responsible for drug smuggling, he said."

According to Gibril, a lot of basic foreign medicines, with no locally-manufactured alternatives, remain unregistered although they are heavily demanded. "We will have to either leave patients to die or face harsh penalties," he said.

(also see the Features page)