Major pharmacists’ unions in Morocco said they will consider broad legal and protest actions, including a nationwide strike, after being excluded from discussions about a key government review of the country’s pharmaceutical market.
The National Federation of Pharmacists’ Unions of Morocco, the National Union of Pharmacists of Morocco and the National Syndicate of Pharmacists of Morocco said the Competition Council excluded pharmacists and violated constitutional consultation rules.
The Competition Council is preparing an opinion on Morocco’s drug sector, a matter that has drawn debate in Parliament in recent months over issues such as medicine prices, access and competition in distribution channels.
The unions said they were “surprised” and “deeply disappointed” after being excluded from a second meeting organized by the council.
The unions called the decision “an unjustified exclusion of the main stakeholders in the pharmacy profession,” and said it casts doubt on the credibility and fairness of the council’s work.
“This conduct raises serious questions about the credibility and integrity of the Competition Council’s entire approach to the pharmaceutical sector,” the unions said.
Pharmacists said any conclusions that would advantage certain commercial lobbies or pave the way for a limited number of actors to dominate community pharmacy operations and affect public health would be “categorically rejected.”
The unions accused the council of abandoning its duty to serve the public interest and said the exclusion amounted to a “dangerous slide away from democratic principles.”
They pledged to pursue “all legal and protest actions” their structures and members deem necessary. That includes organizing an “unprecedented” national general strike to signal their “firm rejection of any undermining of the ethical, scientific and economic standards of the pharmacy profession,” the statement said.
The pharmacists also vowed to “expose those orchestrating intrigues and those complicit in any plot against community pharmacists or the health of Moroccan citizens.”
The unions urged the Competition Council to commit to “constructive, purposeful and inclusive dialogue” with all relevant parties to protect institutional credibility and safeguard national and citizen interests.
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