One out of every two pharmacists is in danger of being shut down. The updates made in July in the price decree that determines the profitability rates of pharmacists did not make the pharmacist smile. The profit rate of pharmacists, who previously made a 25 percent profit from a 100 Turkish Liras (TL) drug, was increased to 28 percent with the new regulation. The pharmacist, who made a profit of 12 percent in 200 TL drugs, will make a profit of 13 percent with an increase of 1 point with the new update. The pharmacist rightly found this regulation inadequate and unfair, as he-she made less profit from high-priced drugs than from low-priced drugs. Pharmacists want the regulation to be revised by calculating the inflation rate again. Speaking to the Milli Gazete, the President of the Istanbul Chamber of Pharmacists Pınar Özcan talked about the problems of pharmacists.
“REGULATION MUST BE MADE AT THE INFLATION RATE”
Stating that pharmacists have many professional and economic problems, Pınar Özcan said, “As pharmacists, we have a lot of economic and professional problems. Right now, the most bothering problem is keeping the pharmacies open economically and sustaining the lives of our colleagues. There is a decree that we call the drug price decree. In this decree, TL scales of 13 years ago were not updated at the rate of inflation. For this reason, the pharmacist became less profitable with each drug hike. There is more in cheap drugs, but as the price of the drug increases, the profit rate decreases. Since these TL scales determined for us after each raise were not renewed at the rate of inflation, the high-profit drugs that were previously cheap in 13 years shifted to higher levels as they received a raise, and the profitability rate fell. What had to be done was to update the scales at the rate of inflation. Since this has not been done, we cannot pay our personnel expenses, warehouse fees, or electricity years later.”
“WE WILL IMPLEMENT THE STRIKE ACTION PLAN”
Stating that they will implement gradual action plans if their demands are not fulfilled, “There are approximately 28,700 pharmacy and 54 pharmacist rooms in Turkey. We have the Central Committee of the Turkish Pharmacists Association. At the meeting we held in Konya a month ago, we started an action plan because we could no longer find a solution to our problems. We have already declared that. Since there was no significant update regarding our demands during the process, I can say that it is a process that leads to strike action within the framework of the action plan to be announced by the Central Committee of the Turkish Pharmacists Association. But as we said, this is a process. It will continue as planned. We will take different actions if our demands are not fulfilled on this issue, which will attract the attention of the public. We will implement a rally and then a strike action plan. Our last link is strike action. We will have put into effect an action plan that progresses gradually until our demands are met,” Pınar Özcan added.
“OUR PATIENTS STARTED TO PAY MORE DIFFERENCE”
Pınar Özcan stated that both the patient and the pharmacists were adversely affected by the regulation made in the price decree, she said, “Companies started not to produce drugs due to the Euro exchange rate applied in drugs in Turkey. There is a shortage of drugs. That's why we have a hard time giving medicine. With each increase, our patients started to pay more difference. Because the state keeps the participation fee paid by the patients below on the basis of drugs. It's all about the price decree. One end touches the patient, in terms of price differences, money out of his-her pocket or in terms of transportation. One end touches the pharmacist, there is no update in the inflation rate in terms of profitability.”