Patients bore the brunt as nearly eight lakh chemist shops in the country were shut on Wednesday in a nationwide strike by the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) to protest against the online sale of drugs.
“Over 90 per cent of chemist shops were shut. The only reason we allowed 10 percent to remain open was to avoid any difficulty to patients. All our retail chemists have joined the strike of over 800,000 chemists in states and union territories, making it a total success,” said JS Shinde, president, AIOCD.
The association warned of an indefinite strike if the Government failed to address the issue within a week and ban online sale of medicines.
Only a few shops, mostly run by Government agencies, were open at some places on Wednesday.
Shinde said the association tried to talk to the health ministry over the illegitimate sale of medicines by e-pharmacy companies, which was hindering the pharmacy outlets.
“We also want to prevent the sale of duplicate medicines being sold by e-pharmacy companies, which the consumers are not going to understand,” he said.
In Maharashtra, around 55,000 retail chemists and pharmacists joined the strike. In Delhi, over 6,800 chemist shops were shut.
The main demand of the chemists is a ban on sale of medicines, including dangerous drugs, through online pharmacies on different websites.
“I wanted some medicine but all chemist shops were closed,” Balbir Singh, an employee in Chandigarh said.
Patients and their attendants complained they were unable to buy medicines.
“The chemists and the Government should have sorted out the issue. Why should patients sufferIJ” asked Monica Sethi, a housewife whose relative was admitted in a hospital in Gurgaon.