Gujarat state will be issuing new licenses to retail chemist shops only if they have air conditioning in the premises from next year. The existing retail outlets may not be forced to have air conditioning immediately. However, a period of compliance may be worked out for the existing outlets as well, said Dr S P Adeshara, Commissioner, Food and Drug Control Administration (FDCA).

The state, which has issued 19,409 trade licenses including wholesale and retail outlets, has the highest number of drug trade outlets in the country at present. The Gujarat FDCA decision to enforce air conditioning as mandatory requirement for trade licensing follows the enforcement in the state of Maharashtra early this year and in Andhra Pradesh last month.

However, the Gujarat FDCA commissioner said that the Administration wanted to implement the same all across the state unlike Maharashtra where the requirement is only made compulsory in the metros and important cities. “That is how the implementation is delayed in the state,” Adeshara said. Actually, the concept of implementing air-conditioning in the drug stores was one of the recommendations in a report submitted by a Committee headed by Dr Adeshara himself four years ago. The Committee was appointed to give suggestions for improving the conditions of drug trade and also to eliminate mushrooming of pharmacies across the country without meeting even minimum standards specified for stocking drug products.

In the meanwhile, the Maharashtra state, which introduced the law from January 1, 2003, has already issued 267 fresh licenses in compliance with the norms. The Food and Drug Administration, Maharashtra has made air conditioning of the premises of all the wholesale and retail drug outlets mandatory in Mumbai and grade A and B Muncipal areas. The FDA move in this direction is in the wake of an investigation report, which has revealed that the potency of many life saving drugs get reduced by up to 50 per cent if they are not stored below 25 degree centigrade.

With this rule, around 7,000 drug outlets within the seven zones of Greater Mumbai will have to be air conditioned within the stipulated period and there are more than 100 new sales licenses have been issued in the Corporation area itself in accordance with the new norms.