Maharashtra FDA asks chemists to not join strike

Mumbai city news: Chemists across the country will go on a 24-hour strike at midnight on Monday to protest the online sale of medicines and GST

Chemists across the country will go on a 24-hour strike at midnight on Monday to protest the online sale of medicines and Goods and Services Tax. However, the Food and Drugs Authority of Maharashtra has asked pharmacists in the Mumbai Metropolitan and Konkan regions not to join it.

FDA officials have asked all hospitals, both government and private, to stock up on medicines. (Pic for Representation)

Pramod Danve from the Chemist Association of Maharashtra said the protest was against government’s plan to make medicines available online. “It’s blindly following western countries because we do not have the technical, infrastructural, or logistical resources to completely implement the e-portal plan,” said Danve. He added that it was a token strike and that chemist shops would reopen on May 31.

FDA officials have asked all hospitals, both government and private, to stock up on medicines. Pharmacies around major hospitals will most likely be open round the clock to ensure patients do not suffer.

“All the hospitals have been asked to stock up on medicines before the strike so that it doesn’t affect critical patients,” said Dr Harshdeep Kamble, FDA commissioner.

Chemists claim that Centre’s e-portal scheme will create further hassles about the kind of medicines requested by the patients and will be mired in logistical problems.

With the recent MCI circular asking doctors to prescribe generic medicines, chemists said these guidelines would clash with e-portal scheme.