PHARMACISTS across the island yesterday shut shop for two hours in protest at the government’s medicines policy, which they say has led to serious shortages in recent months.
Several chemists closed down from 11am to 1pm, in what president of the Pharmacists’ Association Nicos Nouris called a “spontaneous action”.
Nouris explained yesterday that the “strike” was not actually ordered by the association; what had happened was that pharmacists decided to attend pre-scheduled AGMs in all major towns to discuss problems faced by the profession since the introduction of the new pricing policy on medicines last March.
“However, by closing their shops, chemists wanted to show their frustration with the Health Ministry, which has backtracked on its promises to us,” added Nouris.
He said that back in March Health Minister Andreas Gavrielides pledged to implement a scheme for co-operation between state pharmacies and private chemists, which, it was hoped, would in the long term lead to the unification of the public and private health sectors.
Pharmacists see the realisation of the much-vaunted NHS (National Health Scheme) as the solution to problems facing the health sector, including the procurement of medicines.
Reserves have been running dangerously low in the past few months, with some essential medicines (such as blood-clotting drugs) now extremely hard to find on shop shelves. The Medical Association went as far as to claim that people’s lives were at risk.
The shortages became pronounced after March, when the government slashed by an average of 25 per cent the prices of some 1,000 medicines. Predictably, that led wholesale importers to say it was no longer profitable for them to bring in cheaper drugs.
Meanwhile the Health Ministry has on several occasions resorted to the quick-fix policy of procuring supplies from neighboring Greece as the need arises, even though the legality of this practice has been called into question.
“The fact the ministry broke its promise (on co-operation between private and public chemists) was the last straw,” said Nouris, justifying his colleagues’ action.
He added that the decisions of the various AGMs would be announced today at a news conference.
“These will not be isolated, temporary, decisions. They will involve a series of measures aimed at forcing the government to cease acting illegally and solve this major problem for good.”
But Gavrielides yesterday debunked the pharmacists’ claims, questioning the motives behind the two-hour closure.
“I find their action incomprehensible. They say that we have broken our promise. We have not. I have assured them that the scheme for operation will take place, and it will. It is just a matter of time,” the minister told state radio.
