The Pharmacists Syndicate, headed by Mohamed El-Sheikh, permanently cancelled on Tuesday the membership of Cairo’s major pharmacists Hatem Roshdy and Ahmed El Ezaby.
It comes after the Ministry of Health’s Central Administration for Free Treatment and Licensing (CAFTL) has reportedly notified the syndicate of removing the two pharmacists, who own well-recognised series of pharmacies in the country, from its registry over licensing-related breaches. Other pharmacists have also been suspended for one year.
In March, a court ruling upheld an order to remove El Ezaby and Roshdy from the registry of pharmacists for illegal use of commercial names of other pharmacists, while in accordance to the law each pharmacist has to have only two pharmacies.
A Cairo court in 2017 ordered that an El Ezaby branch be shut down following a lawsuit brought by the Pharmacists Syndicate which claimed that the branch had violated licensing regulations.
Al-Sheikh said that the syndicate should apply the new law to face any violation committed by any pharmacy, referring that there are people who manipulate the law to possess more than one pharmacy using other pharmacists’ names, and the application of the law should confront these practices.
Head of CAFTL, Nehal Al-Shaer, said that the syndicate was notified late June about the decision, in accordance to the court ruling in this regard.
El Ezbay commented on the decision describing it as not valid, claiming that CAFTL does not have the legal authority to take such decision and that the Central Administration for Pharmaceutical Affairs is the concerned body, however, he revealed that he is in contact with the ministry to resolve the issue, according to privately-owned Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper on Monday.
