Advance notice of strike action has been given by the pharmacists’ unions for Thursday 30 May, with around thirty rallies planned across France

Between 15,000 and 18,000 of the 20,500 pharmacies in France will be closed on Thursday 30 May, according to estimates gathered by Agence Radio France from the profession’s unions, representing a strike turnout of between 75% and 90%. The two main unions, the Fédération des pharmaciens d’officine (FSPF) and the Union de syndicats de pharmaciens d’officine (USPO), have issued nationwide strike notice, which is also backed by the Ordre des pharmaciens.

For example, ‘80% of pharmacies in Brittany’ will be closed, according to the regional health agency. In Corsica, ‘90% of pharmacies in Corse-du-Sud (out of 57 pharmacies) and 86% of those in Haute-Corse (out of 70 pharmacies)’ will be on strike, according to the island’s ARS, which assures us that ‘night shifts will be carried out’, as ‘the strike only concerns daytime hours’.

In this context, some pharmacies will be requisitioned, but they will only supply urgent medicines, and patients are invited, as far as possible, to anticipate or postpone their needs for pharmaceutical products, according to ARS Bretagne.

Around thirty rallies are planned, including a demonstration in Paris at 3pm between the Faculty of Pharmacy and the Ministry of the Economy. The pharmacists are calling on the government to put in place a plan to combat drug shortages and are demanding an increase in their fees as part of negotiations with the French health insurance system.

According to Pierre-Olivier Variot, President of the USPO union, ‘it’s not the margin on medicines that pays us the most, it’s our fees, and we’re calling for an increase in fees’. He estimates the loss per pharmacy at ‘around €60,000’, with ‘36 closures in January, twice as many as last year’.

Frédéric Valletoux, the French Minister for Health, told the National Assembly that ‘the issues raised by this profession must be heard’, pointing out that discussions with the Assurance maladie had been underway since last December. He pointed out that pharmacists’ remuneration amounted to €7.3 billion in 2023, up 20% since 2019, and said that the government was proposing a 10% increase in fees, as well as other measures to support the profession.