Many pharmacies will lower the curtain on Thursday: the French invited to anticipate by making their arrangements

Le mouvement devrait être très suivi. Midi Libre – Archive Vincent ANDORRA

Jusqu’à 90 à 95 % des officines pourraient fermer, ce jeudi, dans certains départements dans le cadre d’un large mouvement de grève.

The mobilization promises to be massive. The Federation of Pharmacy Pharmacists (FSPF) and the Union of Unions of Pharmacy Pharmacists (USPO) are calling for the closure of the 20,500 pharmacies in France this Thursday, and for demonstrations throughout the country.

Up to 90 to 95% of pharmacies could close that day in certain departments. Only requisitioned pharmacies should be open, warn the Regional Health Agencies (ARS).

"The death of the pharmacy"

Health professionals are demanding financial increases. The proposal made by Health Insurance as part of the conventional negotiations seems largely insufficient to them.

This is "lower" the billion euros that the FSPF hoped for the network for 2025 and a "counterproposal for negotiation" was sent to the Cnam on Wednesday, underlines Philippe Besset.

The reasons for anger

"The budget that is on the table does not make it possible to finance all the pharmacies", affirms the president of the Federation of Pharmaceutical Unions of France (FSPF).

What Health Insurance is proposing "cannot be enough, especially when we compare these proposals" the sums currently being negotiated for doctors, points out Pierre-Olivier Variot, president of the USPO, quoted by La Dépêche and the AFP.

Pharmacists also warn of drug shortages and the risks of liberalization of online sales. "Platforms with remote stocks are called Amazon. So it’s the death of the pharmacy", denounces Pierre-Olivier Variot.

In case of emergency

Faced with this probable dark day in pharmacies, the ARS invite residents to anticipate by picking up their medications in advance, particularly in the event of renewal of prescriptions for treatments which should not be interrupted.

In case of emergency, they are invited to dial 15 to be oriented.