The initiative, entitled “Yes to the security of medical supplies”, was submitted on Thursday with 131,542 signatures. Under Switzerland’s direct democracy system, 100,00 valid signatures are necessary to bring a nationwide vote.
Campaigners say the aim of the initiative is to guarantee the supply of therapeutic products in Switzerland. Stocks of some 600 drugs are currently running low, they say. There is thus an urgent need for action, with the health of the population at stake.
According to a press release, 20 associations, organisations and companies with links to the Swiss healthcare system are behind the initiative.
The Federal Chancellery will now have to validate the signatures, at which point the proposal will go to government and parliament for debate.
Adapted from German by DeepL/dos
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Most Read Swiss Abroad
More
The CHF1,000 dance of death and other unforgettable Swiss banknotes
Is reforming the Swiss pension system still possible, and if so, how?
Solutions still need to be found to meet the challenge of an ageing population and to improve the pensions of low-paid workers, the majority of whom are women.
This content was published on
The suspension of asylum procedures decided Monday following the fall of Bashar al-Assad affects 500 Syrian applicants in Switzerland.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.