As a mark of unity and strength, a staggering number of physical pharmacies all across India shut their operations for a day today in response to a national-level strike called by the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD).
The one-day strike had a major impact on local-level drug distribution, apart from pharmacies that were run by hospitals which stayed open to provide services to emergency patients. The strike, involving around 12.4 lakh chemists, pharmacists, and wholesalers, is an effort by AIOCD against the unregulated proliferation of e-pharmacies and instant medicine delivery apps.
According to AIOCD, e-pharmacies and medicine delivery apps operate in the ‘legal grey area’ by leveraging outdated rules to circumvent important medical guidelines altogether. While concerns have been raised about the safety of citizens and healthy competition in the medical market by traditional medical shops, AIOCD has pointed out that corporate-funded e-pharmacies regularly provide predatory discounts that often cross 50%, something which small shopkeepers running their own businesses cannot compete with because of profit regulations.
One of the main demands put forward in this agitation is the removal of pandemic relaxation provisions, such as GSR 220E and GSR 817E, immediately by the government. According to chemists, such relaxation provisions, which were introduced only to facilitate home deliveries during the period of COVID-19, are now being misused by corporates as loopholes.
The movement saw varied reactions from people in some metropolises where factions focused on accessibility, but it was largely successful in many other states. It should be noted that traditional pharmacy trade unions have issued warnings stating that they would take up agitation again if the Ministry of Health and CDSCO do not introduce stringent guidelines for online drug sale.
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