Chemists call off strike but only after many patients suffer

The MSCDA had decided to observe a threeday shutdown in protest against the Food and Drug Administrationrsquos FDA crackdown on chemists operating without qualified pharmacists Bitter pill for patients Long queues were witnessed outside the Poona hospital pharmacy yesterday as chemist stores in the city shut shop after a threeday strike was called by the Maharashtra Chemists Association PicKrunal Gosavi ldquoThe High Court has asked us to call off the strike acknowledging that though our demands are valid the public must not be made to suffer due to this issuerdquo said Santosh Thevansar president Chemists Association of Poona District CAPD ldquoA meeting has been arranged with the Chief Minister on December 24and the matter shall be discussed further during this interactionrdquo added Thevansar Patients affected Meanwhile due to the closure of nearly 6500 pharmacies for most part of the day people were seen making long queues outside hospital chemist shops Relatives of patients were finding it difficult to find the prescribed medicines and had to undergo anxiety on account of the pharmacies being closed ldquoMy daughter is schizophrenic and we have run out of stock of her daily medicines If she does not take her medicines on time her psychological worries might resurface Since all the private pharmacies are shut today it has become difficult to obtain the medicines Though the pharmacies attached to the hospitals are running I couldnrsquot find all the prescribed medicines at one shop I have been wandering all over the city to get themrdquo said Arvind Tripathi name changed Mahesh Nikam another relative of a patient said ldquoMy brother is suffering from a kidney ailment and it is important for him to take these medicines on time I could not get all the prescribed medicines in the pharmacy attached to the Ruby Hall Clinic and so I had to approach other pharmacies to obtain themrdquo ldquoOur 11monthold son is admitted in Kelkar Hospital and we are trying to obtain his medicines for the past two hours I already visited the medical shop in Sahyadri Hospital but could not get all the medicines in the prescriptionrdquo said Bharat Deshmukh Chemistspeak ldquoThere has indeed been an increase in the number of customers visiting us todayrdquo said Manish Oswal who runs a 247 pharmacy in the premises of Sassoon Hospitalu00a0Trying to justify the agitation Oswal said that though the rules set by the FDA were in the interest of the public they were notfeasibleu00a0 ldquoIt is not possible for a pharmacist to be in a shop 247 In that case each shop will have to employ at least two pharmacists but this is not practical as it will lead to financial restraints on the employer Also how do they expect us to issue a bill with every single medicine sold We stand to incur a considerable amount of loss due to this practicerdquo he added ldquoEarlier the authorities would send a show cause notice in case they found any lapse in the management of the pharmacy But now they revoke the licence of the shop immediately and pull down the shutters if they do not find a pharmacist in the shop The FDA should understand our predicament and not take such stringent actions against us This system has been running in this manner for more than 50 years now and trying to bring such a drastic change instantly is not possiblerdquo said Oswal u00a0