Tunisia-More than 3,000 pharmacists prevented from opening their own pharmacies

“More than 3,000 pharmacists have been on the waiting list for many years and have been prevented from opening their own pharmacies due to laws governing the sector,”, president of the Tunisian association of free pharmacists Ramzi Bououn told the TAP.

According to him, some pharmacists have waited more than 28 years to be capable to open their own pharmacy, while others will not come for another 100 years because of “outdated and unfair” laws, he said. “Successive governments have not been able to deal with this issue severely ,” he added, emphasising that no radical solution has yet been proposed to resolve this situation.

Bououn also called for the annulment of article 29 of law n ° 55 of 1973 organizing the pharmaceutical professions, which conditions the authorization to set up a pharmacy in a town on the number of inhabitants which prevents, according to him, pharmacists from opening their own pharmacies and forces them to remain on waiting lists for long years.