Pharmacists to strike over profits
Pharmacists are set to strike on Thursday to protest the government’s decision to slash their profit margins.
The action was recommended by the head of the Panhellenic Pharmacists’ Association, Kyriakos Theodosiadis, following a meeting of its members on Saturday.
“Forty million euros are being taken away from pharmacists’ income and being gifted to pharmaceutical firms,” said Theodosiadis.
A few days earlier Health Minister Makis Voridis issued a ministerial decision that will gradually bring down the average profit margin on medicines sold by pharmacies to 15.7 percent from the current rate of 21 percent.
Pretax profits will range from 30 percent for medicines sold for less than 50 euros to 2.25 percent for drugs that cost more than 3,000.
