The Telangana Chemists and Druggists Association (TTCDA) announced a 24-hour bandh on May 30.
This move will be carried on to protest against the online pharmacy and the proposal given by the Union Health Ministry to set up an e-portal to regulate sale of medicines.
All India Organization of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) has called on the one-day strike, in which all the pharmaceutical stores in the state would remain shut to support the strike. According to reports, there are 25,000 pharmacies which are members of the association, and out of these 6,000 in Hyderabad and Secunderabad are expected to take part in the bandh.
In a recent move by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, it has been made compulsory for all the medical shop owners to set up a website or an e-platform and upload data related to stocks and sale of drugs. For Schedule H drugs, under the Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, the medical shop owners will reportedly have to upload details of the patient, registration of doctors and prescription.
Meanwhile the association contended that the condition of uploading the doctors prescription and the bill of sale of medicines in the e-portal would trouble the people. The association representatives said the life threat facing patients would face danger in case technical issues are raised in the portal system and if it was not possible to sell medicine during emergency times.
TTCDA General Secretary, R Srinivas said “We are urging the governments at the Centre and at the state to not allow the e-retail system in medicals as it would be a lot of inconvenience to customers. In many villages and remote areas, basic infrastructure like power and Internet connection are missing. When a patient walks into a pharmacy to buy medicines, he will have to wait for a longer time till the retailer finishes the formalities of doing online registration and giving away the medicines, so the process is time consuming.”
Another reason the association alleged is that this might lead to unregulated sale of addictive drugs.
The AIOCD members reported that “Places where there is no allopathy doctor, Indian medicine doctors prescribe medicines. In such places, medical shops will not be able to disburse medicines, which will create artificial shortage.”
SUPRAJA
