Morocco’s Competition Council has not yet received a draft decree on setting drug prices, its president said, contradicting claims from the Ministry of Health that the body was reviewing the proposal.
Ahmed Rahhou, head of the Competition Council, told Hespress AR that the institution “has not been provided with any text” on the matter but would respond once the decree is formally submitted.
The clarification comes as pharmacists’ unions await the council’s opinion, which by law must be sought by the government on issues affecting market competition.
Khalid Zwiin, president of the National Council of the Union of Moroccan Pharmacists, said the Ministry of Health had previously told unions it was awaiting the council’s input.
“This is a matter between sovereign institutions,” Zwiin said, adding that pharmacists are waiting for the ministry’s response, not directly for the council’s.
The draft decree has sparked tensions among pharmacists’ unions. Three major federations accused the Confederation of Moroccan Pharmacists’ Unions of spreading “falsehoods and distortions” after the latter boycotted dialogue with the government and staged a protest.
In a joint statement, the three federations said they met last week with ministry officials and the Moroccan Agency for Medicines and Health Products to discuss urgent demands. They said they had noted “serious intent and progress” by the ministry to meet pharmacists’ concerns.
They also accused the Confederation of representing only a “tiny minority” of three out of 67 regional unions and of pursuing “political or ideological agendas.” According to the federations, the Confederation’s protest in front of the Health Ministry drew only about 160 participants out of more than 14,000 practicing pharmacists nationwide.
Confederation president Mohamed Hababi rejected those claims, saying the turnout was significant and validated by journalists present.
He insisted the organization has consistently taken part in meetings with the ministry and defended its right to advocate in its own way. “At the end of the day, we remain colleagues and professional bodies, each defending pharmacy in its own manner,” Hababi told Hespress AR.
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