Private pharmacies are engaged in the formulation of a motivating party in Tunisia

The Tunisian Union of Private Pharmacy Owners has announced the suspension of work as a motivating party for the benefit of the National Health Insurance Fund's visionaries in all private pharmacies within Tunisia from Sunday 1 November 2026.

This procedure results in social securityers paying the full price of medicines in cash when they buy them from private pharmacies, with the possibility of their expenses being later recovered from the fund according to the system followed. This situation has raised widespread concerns that the treatment of patients and those involved will be disrupted as a result of the direct financial burden, along with worsening disruptions in the supply of medicines and market shortages amid the sector's liquidity crisis.

The union returned this decision to continue violating the National Fund for Disease Insurance's contractual commitments and non-settlement of the pharmacist's accumulated financial debts, which exceeded 200 million dinars. The union structure explained that the failure to repay these debts led to continued difficulties in supplying medicines from distributors and damaged the ability of pharmaceutical institutions to continue their activity and provide treatment.

The context of the crisis lies in the sectoral agreement governing the contractual relationship between the union and the Fund under the sickness insurance act, which obliges the Fund to schedule and pay the dues within specified deadlines. This crisis was repeated after a previous agreement signed in January 2026 to schedule payments of 40 million dinars per month following a temporary suspension at the end of 2025 without ending the pending financial problems.

The next step is to communicate the trade union to the Fund's management to coordinate the administrative arrangements for stakeholder files pending a new financial settlement allowing the resumption of work on the sectoral agreement.