The pharmaceutical trade in the country has been in a protest mode for some years now by often calling for shut down of shops either in a state or nationwide raising various issues. These agitations launched by the trade bodies have not brought any relief to the grievances of the traders but only caused some inconvenience to the patient community. This is because some of the demands raised by trade bodies are unreasonable and not probably very ethical. Now, All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists is planning a nationwide shut down of retail medical shops on March 28 to press its demand for allowing retail drug store owners with more than two years of experience to dispense medicines. A representation in this regard has been already submitted to the Union law ministry, Union health ministry and Drug Controller General of India early this month. As per section 42 of the Pharmacy Act, only a qualified pharmacist registered with the State Pharmacy Council is authorized to dispense medicines in retail medical stores. Although this section came into effect on September 1,1984 to end the practice of running medical shops without qualified persons, most of the medical stores are being run in the country without the presence of a pharmacist.

AIOCD in its representation has raised two other issues. One is the difficulties faced by the retail stores in doing online registration for narcotic drugs as stipulated in the drug rules. There are nearly 4,000 brands of medicines under the purview of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Rules, 1985. Some of the pharmacists and shop owners in rural and semi urban areas may find it difficult to have online registration of narcotic drugs as they are not computer literate. And the other issue is with regard to enforcement of Schedule H1 to curb the indiscriminate use of antibiotics and some other drugs. AIOCD points out that pharmacy owners are being harassed by the drug control officials for not maintaining proper records for the sales of drugs covered under the new Schedule. As per the Schedule H1, a separate register for these drugs needs to be maintained as it includes anti TB drug and habit forming drugs. Regulatory authorities need to enforce these two conditions but they have to be flexible for some time considering the practical problems faced by a large section of the trading community. At the same, the demand to allow unqualified persons to dispense medicines at the retail counters is not acceptable considering the fact there are several thousands of pharmacists available in the country and many more are coming out every year from country's pharmacy colleges.