Pharmacists Reject Capital Reform, Warn of Nationwide Strike

Rabat – Morocco’s pharmacists have strongly opposed proposals by the Competition Council to open pharmacy ownership to external investors and liberalize working hours, warning that such measures could fundamentally alter the country’s pharmaceutical model.

In a sharply worded statement, the Confédération des syndicats des pharmaciens du Maroc (CSPM) announced its “categorical and absolute” rejection of the recommendations, which were put forward as part of broader discussions on competition reforms.

Meeting in extraordinary session this week, the CSPM’s national council cautioned against what it described as “dangerous developments” that could affect both the future of the profession and national health security. At the center of the dispute is a proposal to allow outside financial capital to invest in pharmacies.

The union argues that such a shift would benefit powerful financial interests and lobbying groups at the expense of pharmacists and patients. According to the CSPM, a pharmacy is not merely a commercial enterprise but a healthcare institution governed by strict ethical, professional, and legal standards.

Opening the sector to investors, the organization maintains, would undermine the independence of pharmacists and risk turning the dispensing of medicines into a profit-driven activity. This, it warned, could compromise the quality of pharmaceutical services and weaken public trust, while posing a broader threat to the balance of the national health system.

In response to what it called “unfair recommendations,” the CSPM announced the launch of an open-ended mobilization program. The measures under consideration include a nationwide work stoppage and the closure of pharmacies across the country, along with other forms of protest permitted under the Constitution and the law.

The confederation stressed that all options remain on the table unless the proposed reforms are withdrawn. The escalating rhetoric signals growing tensions between pharmacists’ representatives and the relevant authorities, as debate intensifies over the future structure of Morocco’s pharmaceutical sector.