The Pharmacists Syndicate decided in Sunday's general assembly to stage a strike on February 12 across pharmacies nationwide, Undersecretary of the Pharmacists Syndicate Mostafa al-Wakil said.
Negotiations with the Ministry of Health will continue until February 10, according to board member and syndicate's spokesperson Ahmed Abu Doma.
Abu Doma added in a statement to Al-Masry Al-Youm that the syndicate also decided to call on pharmacies to not buy drugs at new prices from pharmaceutical companies. The pharmacies will insist on the old prices, he said.
According to Wakil, the syndicate filed claims against the health minister for selling pharmaceuticals at two prices. He added that the minister started to backtrack on the decision due to the hassle it caused.
He accused pharmaceutical companies of storing drugs and claiming they ran out of stock in order to sell them at higher prices recently set by the health minister.
The Pharmacists Syndicate called for an urgent meeting on Sunday after the presidency's two weeks grace period to solve their crisis ended with no solution.
Pharmacists have delayed a planned strike against their profit margin being decreased for two weeks since January 14. They said the delay came after a promise to solve the crisis from the presidency.
Pharmacists called for the strike to protest their profit margins being cut to 18 percent of drug prices, down from 25 percent. This percentage is given to the pharmacies by pharmaceutical companies.
They say the ministry neglected their demands during its negotiations with pharmaceutical companies over drug prices, which resulted in the decision to raise prices by 15 percent for locally-produced drugs and 20 percent for imported drugs.
