Many pharmacies refuse to abide by the official price of medicines determined by the Ministry of Health in an index issued with the change in the dollar exchange rate and includes the prices of thousands of types of medicines. The medicine price index issued by the Ministry of Health is publicly available on its electronic platform. It is no secret to anyone the official price of the drug. But there are pharmacists who are so rude, they justify raising the price of the drug from its price on the platform by saying that he bought it when the dollar exchange rate was high.
The claim of some merchant pharmacists is not surprising, but the leniency of the Pharmacists Syndicate with these practices is what calls, not only surprising, but also the extent of the credibility and transparency of a young captain who came to the Pharmacists Syndicate under the umbrella of the forces of change aspiring to transform the Pharmacists Syndicate into a bond for its members and patients alike.
Pharmacies rob patients
The latest indicator issued by the Ministry of Health on February 1, 2022, to price medicines according to the exchange rate of 21 thousand pounds to one dollar, and the mentioned indicator is still valid until the moment, given that the dollar exchange rate has not changed significantly, which calls for changing the indicator. As a result, all pharmacies must abide by the prices of medicines listed on the Ministry’s platform, regardless of the dollar exchange rate when those medicines were requested. Hence, a source from the Ministry of Health, in an interview with Al-Modon, clarifies that pharmacies have entered a phase dominated by commercial logic, and they must accept procedures. Meaning that it is now exposed to making a profit or making a loss. No matter how much the dollar exchange rate changes and no matter how realistic drug prices are, it must adhere to the price listed on the ministry’s platform without any increase or decrease.
But the administration of Al-Wardia Pharmacy, which has several branches, seems to be opening a store in which it prices goods at its own whim. It sells an ovitrelle 250 ml syringe, for example, for one million and 500 thousand pounds, while its price on the platform is one million and 64 thousand pounds, as well as a pharmacy Mazen sells it for one million and 264 thousand pounds.
The price of the Merional 75 unit drug in Al-Wardia Pharmacy is 747,500 pounds, and due to the fact that doctors impose it on patients at a rate of 4 doses during the day. This means that the patient needs about 3 million pounds per day for the price of this drug (specifically two million and 990 thousand pounds), while the total official price on the platform is two million and 600 thousand pounds. When I asked one of the patients at Al-Wardiya Pharmacy why the price of the drug was higher than the price of the platform, the answer came quickly: “You don’t like buying without a pharmacy.”
Another evidence of the pharmacy’s violation and greed, the drug Cetrotide was sold for one million and 290 thousand, while its price on the platform was one million pounds.
Al-Wardia Pharmacy and Mazen Pharmacy are not the only ones who rob patients. There is also Bashir Pharmacy, which is located on Istiklal Street in the Zarif area in Beirut. It sells the Nausetron medicine for children for 267,000 pounds, while its price on the platform is 217,000 pounds. It later emerged that the aforementioned drug had been available in the warehouses of Bashir Pharmacy since before the subsidy was lifted, meaning that it was priced at 43,000 pounds. Also, Ibn Rushd Pharmacy, located in the Zaydania area, prices the same medicine at 241,000 pounds. In short, every pharmacy robs according to its size and robs the patient before the eyes of the Ministry and the Syndicate.
Ineffective supervision
Al-Modon did not expose these pharmacies before obtaining invoices from them that prove the mentioned prices and their violation, and before informing the Pharmacists Syndicate in order to correct matters and take the necessary measures in the event of a violation. The Syndicate did indeed move and sent its monitors to Al-Wardia Pharmacy, but it was not successful in controlling it, according to what the Syndicate of Pharmacists Joe Salloum confirmed to Al-Modon, noting that the Syndicate will re-investigate the same pharmacy, after the Syndicate’s secretariat received a written complaint from a patient, accompanied by invoices issued by the pharmacy. .
In other words, the Pharmacists Syndicate did not and will not act unless written complaints were received with invoices issued by the violating pharmacies, with evidence that it conducted an inspection of the Wardia pharmacy and did not detect its violations. The question: Shouldn’t the union activate its supervisory work and inspect pharmacies on an ongoing basis to verify their compliance with the official prices? Does the patient have to submit written complaints whenever he buys medicine at a different price? If the Syndicate actually wanted to curb the violating pharmacies, it would have been able to seize them during one tour of pharmacies in Beirut or abroad to purchase a specific drug. Then it will be proven to her that a single drug is sold at several prices, some of which are many times more than the official price. Do obvious violations require submission of written complaints and evidence?
The union’s position contradicts itself
Salloum commented on the issue of selling Bashir’s pharmacy the priced medicine before lifting the subsidy, that is, on the exchange rate of 1500 pounds to the dollar, by saying: Whatever the price at which the drug was purchased, the pharmacy is obligated to sell it according to the price of the ministry’s platform. He expressed his determination to combat pharmacies that violate the law and that violate the prices set on the Ministry of Health platform, “to protect the patient and the pharmacy at the same time.” But he returned and gave examples of the inability of pharmacies to sell medicine at low prices, in order to avoid losses such as gasoline, clothing and other consumables.
Salloum, who portrayed the pharmacist as a shoe or clothing merchant, or the like, commented on the case of Al-Wardia Pharmacy, which sells medicines at prices much higher than the official prices, by saying: “If the violation is proven, we will not remain silent about that, but she may have bought the medicines at the price of The high dollar, i.e. 33 thousand pounds, “we are waiting to file an official complaint against it for re-inspection.”
Here, the Pharmacists Syndicate must clarify the position of its captain. Should pharmacies abide by the platform prices, regardless of the dollar exchange rate, or can they sell medicine according to the dollar price at which the drugs were purchased, which is the pretext of some pharmacies, including the rosary?
The answer is clear, and it came from a high-ranking source in the Ministry of Health, with the need to adhere to the platform’s prices. But should the Pharmacists Syndicate not prosecute the violating pharmacies, instruct them to be prosecuted, or check their bills?
Complaints before censorship
It is not possible to prosecute the violating pharmacies before submitting documented complaints from patients against the violating pharmacies, says Salloum, and only then can the inspection be sent to the pharmacy and a seizure issued against it after verifying the bills and comparing them with the platform prices.
The Pharmacists Syndicate adheres to the bureaucracy of dealing at a stage that is the most dangerous in Lebanon’s history, and is supposed to call for strict control and speed up follow-ups and raids, in order to preserve what remains of the right to health. Despite this, one of the patients went further than reporting the violation of Al-Wardia Pharmacy, so she submitted a written complaint to the syndicate attached with invoices proving the violation of the pharmacy, and until now we are waiting for the syndicate’s action, as promised by Captain Salloum. Until then, we, the sick consumers, must boycott and expose those who take away our rights, whether it is a pharmacy, a supermarket, or something else.