“We spend almost an hour every day to find the missing medicines”: angry pharmacists mobilized in Montpellier

Les pharmaciens ont défilé dans les rues de Montpellier, ce jeudi. Midi Libre – DORIAN CAYUELA

Au moins un demi millier de pharmaciens a défilé, ce jeudi 30 mai, dans les rues du centre-ville de Montpellier notamment pour protester contre la pénurie de médicaments.

Pharmacists, pharmacy students, unions… There were at least 500 of them in the streets of Montpellier this Thursday, May 30. It had been ten years since the profession had organized such an important event, lowering the curtain on their storefront. In 2014, apothecaries took to the streets to protest against the authorization of drug sales in supermarkets.

This time, the procession, from Peyrou to Place de la Comédie, demonstrated against the direction taken by pharmacies since January 2023. A way of showing their concern in the ;rsquo;future.

The fear of the internet

The future in pharmacies is what Yanis Louit, 19 years old, represents. The first year student to become a pharmacy technician came to demonstrate with his sign. "I will not be able to improve my skills in good conditions, if pharmacies continue to close", specifies the young man who wishes to do this job since middle school.

Les pharmaciens sont dans la rue à Montpellier ce jeudi après midi pour manifester contre la pénurie de médicaments ou encore les déserts pharmaceutiques #mobilisationpharmaciens pic.twitter.com/DdwotsGhET

— viàOccitanie (@viaOccitanieTV) May 30, 2024

Pharmacy closures are not the only cause of the mobilization. Apothecaries denounce the recurring shortage of certain medicines. "We have been fighting for a year and a half. We spend almost an hour every day to find the missing medicines", says Said Ouhdouch, 60 years old, pharmacist in Beaucaire for more than 20 years.

Finally the various professions in the profession fear the authorization of the sale of medicines on the internet and in particular the American retail giant. "Amazon has killed pharmacies in the United States, we don't want that to happen in France", fears the Beaucairois manager.< /p>