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Pharmacists’ strikes continue. Pharmacies across the country will remain closed on Friday, January 4, 2011, and on Monday and Tuesday next week. Their demand is the state to pay off its debts to pharmacies that have already amounted to nearly 500 million euro. The debts are the result of free medicines prescribing that should be covered by social security funds. The funds, however, have not paid since May, 2010. The new law on the liberalization of closed professions includes pharmacists to remove restrictions in their sector.
 
"The law aims to ruin our sector – we will not accept this," they said from the union of Athens pharmacists. They are adamant that the interests of big pharmaceutical companies that want to close the cycle on the Greek market lie behind the idea of market liberalization. The manufacturers import their products and "sponsor" a large part of private doctors in the country. They prescribe medicines of the same companies irregardless of the higher price. Subsequently, patients will buy them from manufacturers’ pharmacies and will have to pay much higher prices for a medicine that could make profit at half the price.

They explained from the union that if businessmen of no pharmaceutical education were allowed to open pharmacies, the retail sale of medicines would become a business and the social nature of the pharmaceutical profession would be lost. "Let’s take for example the Madopar medicine which is applied in the treatment of Parkinson. Its price in Greece is 5.60 euros and in Germany it is 17.5 euros. The new law will increase the price here," said Stelios Kalogeropoulos, vice-president of the Union, for GRReporter. He explained that the price difference was not the result of higher production costs but of free pricing. "The medicines are not like any other goods. They are social goods and it is inappropriate to speculate with their prices as with other products’ prices on the market," said the pharmacist.

Pharmacists insist that in this case the big business entering in retail would not improve competitiveness but would ruin it. They fear this could establish cartels that would "sweep" small neighbourhood pharmacies and there would not be any hope for private pharmacists.

Another problem according to the union of Athens pharmacists is the repeal of geographical restrictions on opening a pharmacy. According to recent data from the organization, there is one pharmacy per 850 people in Greece. In Europe, this ratio is one to three to four thousand. By completely removing the restrictions the government would not enhance competitiveness but would only increase the debts of social security funds. They did not pay their obligations to the pharmacies operating now and what would happen if the pharmacies in the country increase, they asked from the union rhetorically.

At the moment, nearly 90% of the pharmacists who own pharmacies have to take bank loans at interest rate of 8% to cope with the situation. "Drug stores do not care whether the social security fund has paid us the value of the free drugs sold. They want cash and can not and do not want to wait to receive checks to cover their bills after eight months or a year. So, we are forced to take loans at excessive interest rates," told journalists the president of the union Costas Lorandos. He explained that this was one of the main reasons for the beginning of active strike actions. "Our patience has snapped," he said.

We asked Ioannis Dagoris, pharmacist in downtown Athens, how he would explain the fact that pharmacists were guaranteed a profit of 25% to which many other sectors might envy, especially in times of crisis. He explained that after covering the operating costs the actual rate of profit dropped at about 8% of turnover. Currently it was used to cover the deficit resulting from social funds default and the cost of lending by commercial banks. "We will not stand long that way, however," said the young pharmacist.