A meeting between representatives from the Pharmacists’ Syndicate and Health Minister Ahmed Rady to discuss the pharmacists’ profit margins on medications failed to resolve the impasse between the two sides, Youm7 reports, citing a statement from the syndicate. The syndicate had demanded profit margins of no less than 23% for domestic meds and 15% for imported products, in addition to reverting to directive 200, which gives the Syndicate a say in the opening of a new pharmacy, including the approval of the pharmacy’s trade name, within the syndicate.

According to Al Masry Al Youm, the syndicate’s Dakahlia branch is planning on holding a demonstration in Cairo tomorrow in protest against the January price hikes. As we noted earlier, the syndicate announced it would boycott purchasing meds from producers at the new prices until 10 February and hold a strike on 12 February because they were excluded from discussions on the price increases.