The Bangalore District Chemists & Druggists Association (BDC&DA) has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to modify the notification on demonetisation to include transactions of Rs.500 and Rs 1000 as legal tender until November 24, 2016 to patients accessing chemists, hospitals, nursing homes, blood banks and diagnostic centres in the private sector also.
As per the government notification vide ‘SO 340 8(E) (a) enforced from November 8, 2016 midnight, this facility is permitted only for government hospitals for medical treatment and pharmacies in government hospitals for buying medicines with doctor’s prescription.
This according to the Association has inconvenienced patients as it prevents them to purchase medicines from any easily accessible pharmacy outlets and seek medical attention at any private hospitals using the old currencies.
Lauding the Prime Minister's move to clean out the black money and ensure that there is no place for corruption in the country, the Bangalore District Chemists & Druggists said that they were in total support of this efforts.
However, there is a dire need to bring in private chemists and medical centres under the ambit of this notification. “We request you to modify the notification considering the urgency and hardships suffered by the general public when they are sick and for those patients suffering from serious and chronic illnesses like cardiovascular disorders, hypertension, diabetes, epilepsy requiring admission to any private medical centre and purchase drugs from pharmacy outlets close to these facilities. There are also emergency requirements of blood platelets for maternity and neo-natal care. In addition, there is a huge patient pool depending on long-term usage of medication for cancer, renal disorders among others who constantly access any pharmacy outlet”, said V Hari Krishnan, president, BDC&DA.
Making an appeal to the Prime Minister, the BDC&DA president said that there was an urgent need to revise Para 2 of the notification issued on November 8, 2016 enabling only government hospitals for medical treatment and purchase of drugs from government pharmacy outlets with doctor’s prescription.
In the wake of a demand for life saving emergency interventions, the procurement of medicines cannot be fulfilled by the government hospitals and government pharmacies alone for the purchase of drugs. This leads to hardships for patients and even result fatality in some cases if access to these consumables are not made possible, Krishnan said.
“We now seek immediate legal tender of the denomination series of Rs.500 and Rs.1000 which existed before November 9, to be extended until November 24, 2016 to the private chemists, hospitals, diagnostic centres and blood banks. This would be a boon to the suffering patients,” stated Krishnan.