{"id":16926,"date":"2026-09-21T16:41:04","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T14:41:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/?p=16926"},"modified":"2026-10-07T04:59:32","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T02:59:32","slug":"pharmacist-delivery-egypt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/pharmacist-delivery-egypt\/","title":{"rendered":"A Pharmacist Earns Less Than a Customer-Service Worker in Egypt"},"content":{"rendered":"

The scene<\/a> needed only a few minutes to reveal its incongruity: a man in a Talabat delivery worker\u2019s uniform riding an electric scooter through Cairo, carrying an order to a customer. When Mina realised someone was filming him on a phone, he answered immediately: \u201cI am a pharmacist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Egypt\u2019s pharmacists face overlapping difficulties: the erosion of independent pharmacies\u2019 working capital, outdated legislation and institutional paralysis following the imposition of judicial receivership on their professional syndicate in February 2019.<\/p>\n

On 13 February 2019, the Court of Urgent Matters ordered receivership<\/a> following disputes within the syndicate\u2019s board. The judgment was implemented on 30 April and a receiver appointed. The resulting suspension of elections left pharmacists without an elected negotiating body to press for government placements, fair tax agreements or enforcement of Ministerial Decision 499.<\/p>\n

Reported figures<\/a> put registered pharmacists at 370,000. Egypt has 74 pharmacy schools, including 23 at public universities, collectively producing about 25,000 graduates a year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Egypt\u2019s 74 pharmacy schools<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
University category<\/th>\nSchools<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Public<\/td>\n23<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
National \/ nonprofit<\/td>\n20<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Private<\/td>\n26<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Other institutions treated as private<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>
The Arabic graphic\u2019s heading says 20 public schools, but its underlying list contains 23. The list totals 74 and agrees with the article\u2019s text, so 23 is used here.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Low pay is not confined to pharmacy. Reported pharmacist salaries<\/a> average EGP 8,000\u201312,000, while annual urban inflation reached 14.5% in August 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/div>\n

Qualified for one profession, paid better in another<\/h2>\n

Mai Abdel Samad, a 2022 pharmacy graduate, tells Zawia3 that pharmacists at the large private hospital where she worked in 2024 earned EGP 5,500\u20135,800 a month. She had a year\u2019s experience at the time.<\/p>\n

Mai chose clinical work rather than medical marketing. Her shifts lasted 12 hours, from 8am to 8pm or the reverse. She describes them as exhausting, saying she spent the entire shift on her feet.<\/p>\n

Now working at a government hospital, she puts salaries at EGP 6,000\u20136,900, rising to EGP 7,200 at some large hospitals. Unlike her private-hospital experience, she says the public-sector schedule gives her more room for freelance work or further study.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWorking for companies can be more profitable, but it gives you marketing experience rather than practical clinical experience,\u201d Mai says. In her view, its advantage is financial.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n