The Pharmacy Owners Committee, in coordination with the pharmacists’ syndicate protested Tuesday morning in front of the Health Ministry, while pharmacies closed until 2 p.m. as part of a strike, demanding laws be implemented to govern the timely delivery of drugs from importers to pharmacies and denouncing the smuggling of medication.

Here’s what we know:

    • Pharmacists’ syndicate head Joe Salloum said at the scene of the protest that the syndicate “stands with the patients who are exposed to various types of forgery, and speak in their name to prevent the patients from being killed by counterfeit and smuggled medicine.”

   • He confirmed that some cancer patients bought medicine that “turned out to be forged, because the concerned state or ministry did not provide proper medicines and did not put the right plan to secure good medicines.”

   • “We have stood today demanding to adopt a clear drug plan that begins with a drug index that is issued periodically and secures the drug from importers to pharmacists and not to leave a void for smuggled and counterfeit drugs that can kill patients,” said Salloum.

   • Pharmacists asked the state to adopt the medicine card, which gives each patient the ability to buy medicine from pharmacies. These cards would cover the full cost of pharmaceuticals provided directly from pharmacists to low income patients.

   • As a result of the economic crisis, which began in 2019, pharmacists have frequently struggled to secure stable stocks of medical supplies, blaming the disruptions in the supply chain on tardy payments for subsidized drugs by the central bank and on importers hoarding or smuggling drugs. Since mid 2021, subsidies on many imported drugs have been removed.