Pharmacists’ “Takleef” is at the top of the trend, and the pharmacists are appealing to President Sisi after canceling the Takleef for them, and the issue of assigning pharmacists has become not only a hashtag on Twitter, but it has become a public opinion issue. How did the hashtag turn into a case, do pharmacists have the right to charge, and what was the reason for issuing this decision?
According to Dr. Adel Abdelmaksoud, head of the pharmacists department in the Cairo Chamber of Commerce, “this takleef is every pharmacist’s right because some pharmacists, under these difficult circumstances, are asking for the Takleef even though it is very tiring and stressful in most governmental outlets. In order to be able to cope with the difficult financial life and the ability to start their lives, this is a key element for pharmacists to adhere to this mandate.”
Abdelmaksoud added, “although the current market needs a very large number of pharmacists, the decisions to suspend the assignment were the result of thinking beneath the fund only and to provide for the financial assignment fee, especially after increasing the numbers from four thousand pharmacists to 14 thousand pharmacists.”
Abdelmaksoud mentioned that the pharmacists' censorship has a special status. It seeks to send attempts to the ministry regarding their Takleef, but the union is constricted in its ability because naturally the control entity must consist of 24 individuals plus the captain, but the pharmacists union consists of only 3 plus the judicial guard, so there is no balance and the union does not have the ability to make any decisions at the moment.
According to lawyer Alaa Moussa, “so far, I have five cases to defend. The recent graduate pharmacists have achieved their Takleef and about 100 pharmacists are preparing their papers in order to defend their rights after the problem has become a public opinion issue for pharmacists, and most pharmacists will win the case.”
Graduate pharmacist, Khaled Moussa, 24, said, “because of the delay of the 2017 payment in receiving their Takleef, and that after the Ministry of Health refused to assign the batch of 2017, but discussion after between Syndicate and the People's Assembly, the Minister of health gave them the payment of the 2017 Takleef, and this affected the 2019 Takleef, and added that the Ministry is satisfied with the numbers of pharmacists.
Mousa Explained “After that, the batches of 2018,2019 and 2020 became graduates and they did not receive their Takleef, and then the Minister assigned 11 thousand out of 30 thousand random pharmacists from my 2018-2019 batch, and after that we discovered that there are some pharmacists who got ‘Good’ and received their Takleef. After we took a stand, the minister removed their names from the site”.
Moussa mentioned that after the pressure on the minister, she announced a supplementary announcement similar to the competition that followed the Scientific Research Department, and the aim was to cancel the Takleef and for it to be according to the needs of the ministry and what suits it.
Pharmacist Mohamed Gamal,30 , said “this is a natural right for pharmacists, as it is a natural right for medical doctors, and that this Takleef was normal and some had the freedom to choose to take it over or work in the private sector. It was not correct for him to take the Takleef and work in the private sector as well.”
It is worth mentioning, a “Takleef” is a period of practicing the profession of pharmacy that a pharmacist spends after graduating from an Egyptian university, in any government agency affiliated with the Ministry of Health and Population, that is issued within the first year of graduating. The mandate is for two years, renewable, and the Minister of Health may agree to terminate it after one year of practicing the profession.