An urgent meeting of the general council of the All Kerala Chemists and Druggists Association (AKCDA), which held in Kochi on August 9, passed a resolution urging the Central and the state governments to enact a law to protect the interests of the conventional drug traders who have been in the business field even before the drugs and pharmacy acts came into force.

The general council, the apex body of AKCDA, passed a second resolution demanding the state government to stop the inspection of the State Pharmacy Council at the medical stores until an understanding is reached between the traders and the Pharmacy Council with the involvement of the government.

Giving full support to the state committee, the GC meeting took one decision to strengthen the agitational programmes chalked out by its office-bearers to end the inspections of pharmacy inspectors, terming it as ‘torture by Pharmacy Council’. AKCDA will mobilise maximum number of members to the protest march and dharna scheduled to be held before the Pharmacy Council office in Thiruvananthapuram on August 19.

The council meeting of AKCDA debated the issue in detail and noted that the drug traders have been in the business field even before the D&C Act and Pharmacy Act came into force. The traders community, through their valuable services to the society, have made all kinds of medicines available in every nook and corner of the state even before independence. So far, no incident of adversity has been reported from anywhere. More than 15000 families depend on this medicine business for their livelihood.

Terming the decision of the State Pharmacy Council as ultra vires to democratic principles, the president of AKCDA, AN Mohan has said there is no urgency involved in implementing Pharmacy Practice Regulations in Kerala alone. The State Pharmacy Council is in such a hurry to implement the Pharmacy Act in the state when other state governments are not insisting on implementing it. Even the council does not bother to have a discussion with the traders before going ahead with their plan.

“Our demand is to withdraw the Pharmacy Act and the recently framed Pharmacy Practice Regulations completely. We are totally against it”, said Mohan. To a question, he said the general council also wanted the national trade body, All India Organization of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) to take up the issue as an agenda for discussion in the national executive committee meeting to be held in Bilaspur next month.

“Sixty per cent of our members are pharmacists only. But there are several non-pharmacist members who have been doing drug business for more than sixty years and their services are valuable. It is the duty of the government to protect these people and their business. We are investing and we are doing the business. Government should protect our business. We should not allow big corporates to engulf the entire drug business in the country,” commented Mohan.

Meanwhile, commenting on the claim of chemists and druggists, Dr. Atmaram Pawar, a member of Pharmacy Council of India, said there are so many unlicensed drivers driving vehicles very well. But it cannot be permitted before the law of the land.