All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) representing nearly seven and half lakh chemists across the country, has called off  the nation wide pharmacy bandh although bandh is on in various districts of states like Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, Meghalaya and Chattisgarh. The decision to call off the bandh is subsequent to talks with the Union health ministry. The pharmacy bandh may be called again in the first week of May 2014 after the elections are over. Strike is going on at Palamu in Jharkhand and Begusarai in Bihar, while states like UP, Assam, Uttarakhand and Chattisgarh are observing full bandh. 

Suresh Gupta, general secretary, AIOCD said, "Government has assured us to consider our demands after the elections as they are bound by the election code of conduct. We have submitted a memorandum to the BJP National President Rajnath Singh on our demands, which he has assured will be fulfilled once BJP comes to power."

Chemists and Druggists Federation of Uttar Pradesh (CDFUP) is observing the bandh in all its districts. Says Sudhir Agarwal, organising secretary, CDFUP, "Our one day bandh is justified as UP is facing a severe resource crunch in terms of availability of pharmacists with only 22,000 registered pharmacists and 68,000 drug retail shops in the entire state. The state has a total of 1.8 lakh chemists including wholesalers and retailers.

He further says,” we have submitted a proposal to the health ministry and the state drug controller to frame a six month course module for owner pharmacists who are compelled to run drug retail store without a qualified pharmacist”.

Uttarakhand which comprises of 13 districts has also observed a one-day bandh on the issue of shortage of pharmacists. Uttarakhand Aushadi Vyayasayi Mahasangh president T R Panthari says the strike is justified as only 20 per cent of registered pharmacists are a part of the trade.

There are around 7000 drug retail stores in the state but only 3000 registered pharmacists. Over 70 per cent of chemists, which include wholesalers and retailers are concentrated in Nainital, Haridwar, Dehradun and Uddham Singh Nagar and the rest 9 districts account for a mere 30 per cent chemists.  

"Pharmacists should be treated on par with physicians. The onus of implementation of Schedule H1 lies with all the stakeholders in the healthcare system. We have made arrangement to create a back up supply of medicines in consultation with the state administration to avert any crisis due the strike, " Panthari concluded.

AIOCD had announced a nation-wide pharmacy bandh on March 28, 2014 in order to press its long pending demand of empowering drug retail owners, with more than two years of experience, eligible to dispense medicines. The demand has been festering since the time the trade body launched a nation-wide bandh during May last year. Other issues raised include compliance of Schedule H1 and making online registrations compulsory for the drug retail shops.   

Strike has also been observed at Palamu in Jharkhand and Begusarai in Bihar.