Patients suffer as chemist shops shut over online drugs sale

New Delhi 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 Organization of Chemists and Druggists AIOCD to protest against the online sale of drugsOver 90 percent 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 800000 chemists in states and union territories making it a total success JS Shinde president AIOCD told IANSThe loss from the days strike is estimated to total hundreds of crores of rupeesThe association warned of an indefinite strike if the government failed to address the issue within a week and ban online sale of medicinesOnly a few shops mostly run by government agencies were open at some places on WednesdayShinde said the association tried to talk to the health ministry over the illegitimate sale of medicines by epharmacy companies which was hindering the pharmacy outletsWe also want to prevent the sale of duplicate medicines being sold by epharmacy companies which the consumers are not going to understand he saidIn Maharashtra around 55000 retail chemists and pharmacists joined the strike In Delhi over 6800 chemist shops were shutThe main demand of the chemists is a ban on sale of medicines including dangerous drugs through online pharmacies on different websitesI wanted some medicine but all chemist shops were closed Balbir Singh an employee in Chandigarh told IANSPatients and their attendants complained they were unable to buy medicinesThe chemists and the government should have sorted out the issue Why should patients suffer asked Monica Sethi a housewife whose relative was admitted in a hospital in GurgaonHowever Shinde claimed that the strike was in public interest since the sale of medicines through internet was illegal increases the risk of adverse drug reactions and would ease entry of low quality unbranded and spurious medicinesHe said online pharmacies were threatening the jobs of nearly eight million people employed by chemistsOnline pharmacies supply IPills MTP kits antidepressants cough syrups and so on without confirming the authenticity of the prescriptions or the patients he saidIn Madhya Pradesh over 20000 chemists shops were shut The government has no regulation over the online supply of drugs Bhopal Chemists Association president Lalit Jain told IANSOver 25000 chemist shops in Rajasthan too were shut The strike was successful Dhanpat Sethia secretary of the Rajasthan Chemists Association told IANSThe state government said 350 medicine shops run by the department of cooperatives remained open But people complained that not all medicines were available despite long queuesThis strike has troubled patients It is happening at a time when large number of seasonal diseases like dengue and malaria are being reported said a doctor who did not wish to be namedIn Kerala nearly 14000 chemist shops were closed So were thousands of chemists across Punjab Haryana and ChandigarhMore than 5000 chemists across Himachal Pradesh too joined the The state civil supplies corporation drug stores however operated in major hospitalsBut only a handful of medicines mostly generic were available in the civil supplies stores rued Parkash Chand whose son was admitted to the Indira Gandhi Medical and Hospital in ShimlaThose in online business of medicines said they were doing no wrongKulpreet Kaur cofounder Shop Pirate a brand also involved in the sale of medicines online said There is no harm in technology acting as an enabler in offering convenience to customersWe need to bring in comprehensive laws and process to avoid any social issue Ecommerce has always played a role of giving opportunities to everyone in the ecosystem