Under the theme “Reinventing Tomorrow’s pharmacy,” the second edition of the MED EXPO Days, an event for all pharmacists and medical professionals in Morocco and elsewhere, began on January 27.
Several significant turning points in the Moroccan pharmaceutical industry were highlighted.
Organized by SIGMAPHARM, the event welcomed various medical field professionals in the city of Tangier.
This year’s event featured a special visitor from the Spanish pharmaceutical economic interest group (GIE), HEFAME, the group’s president, Enrique Ayuso Hernández, who spoke about the vital importance of social work and the help that pharmacists provide to the general public.
Ayuso outlined the significance of pharmacists around the globe, such as in Spain, where they excelled during the COVID-19 pandemic by aiding with vaccination campaigns, providing home care, and much more.
Many members of the Moroccan pharmaceutical community attended the event, such as the event’s organizer, Dr. Nouredine Salami, chairman of SIGMAPHARM, who assembled a panel of experts to foster scientific discussion in hopes of a better future.
Dr. Mounir Tadlaoui, the secretary general of the national federal of Moroccan pharmaceutical syndicates, explained how pharmacists have nothing to do with the prices of medicines, dementing any rumors about this.
He explained that the prices are defined outside of Morocco and that they only decrease here if they do first in other foreign countries.
“Politics and economics must be kept apart, which is why organizations like SIGMA are praised for their work,” said Tadlaoui.
He emphasized that his organization is willing to support Moroccan pharmaceutical economic groups that are interested in adapting the Mediterranean model that HEFAME is following, which necessitates advocating for the amendment of a law known as 17-04 Article 26 to permit those groups to purchase medications directly from laboratories.
The article currently stipulates that industrial pharmaceutical establishments can directly ensure the distribution of medicines to pharmacies and medicine reserves in clinics and that pharmaceutical wholesale distributor businesses are the only ones authorized to distribute drugs at wholesale, with no mention of GIEs.
“Dr. Salami is a futurist, therefore he invited the head of HEFAME to discuss our potential opportunities,” said Tadlaoui.
One of the speakers at the inaugural meeting suggested that Moroccan pharmacists include e-commerce into their business models since para pharmacies already do so extensively.
An important point was evoked by Dr. Mustapha Zerrouk, head of the Tangier union of community pharmacists.
He spoke of a policy of exclusion and isolation aimed at Moroccan pharmacists as a result of their status as vendors.
“During Covid, we never saw pharmacists portrayed in commercials and awareness campaigns, only police officers, doctors, and nurses,” exclaimed Zerrouk.
The first day of MED EXPO came to an end on a happier note with the hope of changing Tomorrow’s pharmacy in Morocco and reinventing it.
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