DISPUTE WATCH- Health Ministry permanently suspends El Ezaby, Roshdy from pharmacy registry: A Health Ministry body has permanently removed pharmacists Ahmed El Ezaby and Hatem Roshdy from its registry over licensing-related breaches, Al Shorouk reported. The ministry’s Central Administration for Free Treatment and Licensing (CAFTL) has reportedly notified the Pharmacists Syndicate of its decision to suspend the two pharmacists. A number of other pharmacists have also been removed for one year.

Licensing-related breaches: A court ruling earlier this year ordered that El Ezaby and Roshdy be removed from the registry after finding them guilty of illegally buying the commercial names of 14 and 11 other pharmacists, respectively. This allowed them to open more than one pharmacy in a breach of the law. A Cairo court in 2017 ordered that an El Ezaby branch be shut down following a lawsuit brought by the Pharmacists Syndicate which alleged that the company had violated licensing regulations.

El Ezaby says decision is not valid: El Ezaby, who heads the Pharma Cosmetics & Appliances Chamber, told AMAY yesterday the decision was “illegal”. The owner of the locally recognized brand said that the CAFTL does not have the legal authority to take the decision, which he said should fall under the authority of the Central Administration for Pharma Affairs. El Ezaby said that he is in talks with the ministry to resolve the issue.

Business as usual: Most of the pharmacies affiliated with El Ezaby and Roshdy will continue to operate as normal,saida source from the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce (FEDCOC)’s pharma division. Only the two pharmacies to which El Ezaby has licenses were ordered shut down while 150 other branches, which are under his brand but not license, are still operating normally, the source said. El Ezaby could pass on the license to another pharmacist to ensure the two branches remain open. The same applies to Roshdy’s 70 branches, the source said.