JEDDAH: The Civil Defense has started to close down pharmacies that are near or part of gas stations. The Ministry of Health has labeled them a health hazard. It has also prevented them from renewing their licenses.

At least 15 pharmacies in Jeddah have already been closed down, costing owners an estimated SR20 million.

Saud Al-Rugi, who owns two pharmacies in Jeddah, opposed the decision to close down one of his stores located next to a gas station on Madinah Road on Jan. 24. It had been operating for over 10 years and he estimates its closure will cause him a loss of over SR2 million.

He said the owners of the affected pharmacies had sent an official complaint to the Health Ministry's General Administration for Medical Licensing, demanding that it give a reason for the decision.

According to Al-Rugi, the ministry told him and other owners that there were flammable materials inside the pharmacies and that toxic hydrocarbon gas from petrol could affect medicines.

He is not convinced. "If toxic gas can affect the medicine, then the packaging is badly designed. As for flammable materials inside the pharmacy, in that case I think that they should also close down restaurants and car repair shops because they contain flammable materials."

Al-Rugi also called on the ministry to define whether affected pharmacies had to be actually located inside gas stations or next to them. This had caused owners much confusion.

Dr. Ali Al-Zawawi, general director of Medical Licensing at the Ministry of Health, said that this issue was an old one and was surprised it had come to the fore again.

"The decision was not random. A committee consisting of the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Interior and Civil Defense was formed to study the matter," he said. "It was a joint decision especially after reviewing similar experiences in other countries. We also consulted the Food and Drug Authority on this matter."

Al-Zawawi added that Jeddah has the largest number of pharmacies inside or next to gas stations. "We have over 5,000 pharmacies in the Kingdom. If 15 of them were shut down, then what is the harm in that?"

Head of the Civil Defense in Jeddah Abdullah Al-Jeddawi said that pharmacies were not among the services normally included in gas stations but they had started to appear recently in large numbers.

"We don't see any harm in having pharmacies next to gas stations as long as they do not contain medical labs. We specified a number of conditions to the Ministry of Health, but they rejected the idea of pharmacies in such places.  They have their reasons," he said.