In a revolt against the wholesalers who head the All Kerala Chemists and Druggists Association (AKCDA), the newly floated retailers’ forum, the All Kerala Retail Chemists and Druggists Association (AKRCDA) has initiated a move to remove the wholesalers from the leadership of the association through ballot.
According to AKRCDA office-bearers, after the organizational election, which will be held soon following the instructions of the high court, the AKCDA will fall under the control of the retail pharmacists. Now they are being ruled and driven by a handful of distributors who rest comfortably on the throne of power. It will end soon after the election because the retailers have decided to field their own candidates from the unit level election to the state level, they said.
To initiate election activities, the AKRCDA, which got registered and operating silently, has formed ‘Retailers’ Forum’ to mobilize members from the ground level to the top. According to Alex Varkey, the president of the association, after the organizational election, the association’s administration will be handled by the retailers only. He said the members supporting his move will not allow only a handful of wholesalers to control the entire pharma retailers whose number goes beyond 14000 in Kerala.
“We will not let others to govern us. We want an organization of our own to serve our purpose and solve our problems. We want to be free from the clutches of a small number of distributors. We are doing business, so without any intermediary we will directly approach the manufacturers to purchase drugs,” he told Pharmabiz.
Another leader of the new movement, C Sanal said they will finalize the business protocols of the new marketing system after discussion with the government from where they have sought maximum support.
The leaders of the new trade body further said they want to expel the present leaders of both AKCDA and AICDF through election as they are all charged with cases of corruption. This has to be ended and a body of retailers be emerged in Kerala for the welfare of the whole bottom level traders.
The AKRCDA has plan to launch district co-operative societies to directly purchase drugs from companies and sell on discounted rates to expunge the wholesalers from drug sales.
The launch of a retailers’ state wide trade association in Kerala may have bigger impact all over the country as organizations of pharma retailers in other states are also thinking in the lines of Kerala retailers to float their own bodies to procure medicines directly from manufacturing companies without any intermediary, it is learnt.