Most of medical shops remain shut in Ahmedabad till 4 pm to protest against online pharma trade

Ahmedabad:

Most of the Medical shops in Ahmedabad city remained shut till 4 pm in the afternoon today on a strike call by the Ahmedabad chemist association to protest against online medicine business.

Over 2500 wholesale and retail medicine stores linked with Ahmedabad Chemist Association remained closed till 4:00 pm. However, several other stores (around 10 to 15 %) not affiliated with the Association remained open.

A rally was also taken out by the protesting chemists who gathered at the collector’s office to submit their application in this regard.

An office bearer of the Association said, ‘with government of India’s FDI policy allowing foreign investment in retail sector, multinational and Indian companies, through portals and by illegal and unauthorized means, are making medicines easily available online. Bringing some grave concerns related to the propagation of online pharmacies to the government’s notice, The Federation of Gujarat State Chemists and Druggists Associations had also made a plea to the authorities to look into the matter. The association brings into limelight significant apprehensions one being the hampering of offline sales directly affecting families of innumerable chemists and druggists around the country. Another issue that the association throws light on is that of the safety of citizens who have access to medicines without the need of a doctor’s prescription. Also a cause of concern is the burden of GST on dealers who have to bear the brunt of the tax on returning medicines that may either be expired or damaged.’

‘Government has fixed a trade margin of 16% for chemists whereas it allows relaxation for FDIs like Walmart, Flipkart, Amazon, 1mg, Pharmaeasy, Medcart, Netmeds, Medplusmart, Medlife, etc. The proliferation of these giants will raise the question of survival of over 26000 chemists of Gujarat and 8.5 lakh chemists around India. Moreover, it will affect the livelihood of 60 lakhs families which are dependent on this chemist trade.” He added, “Over and above, approximately 80% chemists are either unregistered or in composite scheme. The situation is even grimmer for these traders who on returning expired or damaged medication have to lose out on the GST paid on the goods at the time of purchase, causing more loss.”

‘Common man getting access to medicines that can be purchased without a doctor’s prescription is in itself a matter of concern. With medicines on the NDPS list (Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances) and tranquilizer medicines freely available, the youth of our nation too is at risk of addiction. Moreover, with cool chain products being needed to be stored at a certain temperature, the damage during transit from warehouse of the online store to patient is not being considered. Another cause of worry is that it is not possible for an online pharmacy to return substandard products to manufacturer, something that is mandatory as per the FDA rule,’ he said.

DeshGujarat