Lebanon: 900 pharmacies at risk out of 3600?

Around 900 out of 3,600 pharmacies in Lebanon have closed their doors or are threatened with closure. With this shocking figure, the head of the Lebanese Pharmacists Syndicate, Abdul Rahman Marqabawi, sounded the alarm, announcing that approximately 200 pharmacies have already closed, while more than 700 face the risk of closure if the situation continues as it is.

A number of this magnitude practically means that roughly one in four pharmacies is at risk of going out of business.

Testimonies and facts reveal real pressures related to costs, declining revenues, smuggling, and unfair competition. However, the extent of the crisis announced by the syndicate remains questionable without a clear plan or verifiable data to support it.

This raises the question: Are we facing a crisis that truly threatens this number of pharmacies, or is raising our voices merely a pressure tactic?

According to Marqabawi, there are approximately 3,600 pharmacies in Lebanon, with about 1,000 located in densely populated coastal areas. The remainder are distributed across outlying regions, which, according to the syndicate, face the greatest pressure.

He notes that around 300 pharmacies have closed in border areas due to the security and military situation. Their owners find it difficult to reopen them or transfer their licenses to other areas, as the law does not permit this. As for those that closed for economic reasons, the syndicate’s figures still require further documentation, particularly in the absence of a map showing their locations.

The crisis is not a recent development. Since the economic collapse, the sector has accumulated losses, starting with funds stuck in banks, passing through the drug subsidy system and the resulting losses in inventory, and reaching the rise in operating costs and the decline in revenues.