In the Gaza Strip's struggling economy, “lending” one’s degree or diploma to obtain income has become an increasingly popular practice in the field of pharmacology. With a dearth of job opportunities due to the political situation and the Israeli blockade, and unable to afford opening their own pharmacy, many pharmacology graduates have been trading on their degrees to help private investors open pharmacies and in some cases to work in them.
Khalil Hachem holds a bachelor’s in pharmacology and was completely unaware of the job market in his field at graduation. He explained to Al-Monitor, “If I had the chance again, I would have chosen a different major, because a pharmacy degree in the Gaza Strip is nothing more than a government license to trade in drugs. The pharmaceutical market is limited to selling or promoting pharmaceuticals, because the government positions in the Palestinian Authority-affiliated institutions have been suspended in Gaza in light of the political differences between Hamas and Fatah, not to mention the fact that several pharmaceutical factories are out of business because of the Israeli blockade on Gaza. The only solution is for pharmacists to own their own pharmacy, which is a venture costing between $20,000 and $40,000. As no new graduates can afford such amounts, the majority of them end up lending their diplomas to investors.”
