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Incivility is increasing in pharmacies, reveals the National Order of Pharmacists. In 2022, on average, a pharmacist would have been attacked every day in France, an increase of 17% since 2019.
Pharmacists believe they no longer work in serenity. Yorick Berger, a Parisian pharmacist says he found himself several times confronted with violent customers in his pharmacy. “We were victims of several attacks: after a theft, of a person who insults, who ransacks the pharmacy, intimidation, threats in the evening…”he confides. The testimonies follow. In Angoulême (Charente), a client presented herself with a falsified prescription. “We got together to put her out”explains Léna Montaletang.
366 assaults declared in 2022
According to the National Order of Pharmacists, with 366 attacks declared in 2022, the figure is up 17% compared to 2019. All regions are affected. Jean-Marie Guillermin, vice-president of the Council of the Order of Pharmacists (Occitanie) notes a “thirty cases” in the region, 80% of which were insults and physical attacks.
Pharmacies located in small towns are no exception, since 30% of incivilities are committed in towns of less than 5,000 inhabitants. According to Béatrice Clairaz, pharmacist in Hauts-de-Seine, the situation has deteriorated in recent months. “During the Covid crisis, the rules for dispensing medication were relaxed (…). Today we are in a normal diet and the patients do not understand it“, she says.