The drugs control department in Kerala is concerned over a possible medicine shortage from the mid of January 2011 because of a distribution boycott threat by a group in the All Kerala Chemists & Druggists Association (AKCDA), due to the faction feud in the organisation.

Revi S Menon, Asst Drugs Controller, Ernakulam told Pharmabiz that the state would face acute medicine scarcity if the faction feud in the All Kerala Chemists & Druggists Association continued without a final settlement.

The rivalry between the two groups has taken a new turn with one group coming out in the open against the supply of medicine by a Mumbai based company to a new stockist belongs to the other group.

The dispute over the market control by one group has led the stockist to approach the High Court and get an interim order in his favour. Further, to get the order implemented by the company, the stockist along with his supporting group organized a strong agitation before the C&F office in Ernakulam that has later invited the attention of the district collector and drug control staffs. This has led the rival group to exhort its members to boycott the distribution of five companies from January onwards.

According to ADC of Ernakulam, the situation in the market is likely to worsen if this long-running feud is not settled amicably immediately. He said the stock of medicines available with the wholesalers is sufficient up to a fortnight only. Now the irked group has given instruction to boycott only verbally, but soon they will issue circulars to its members and go ahead with their decision, quoting some reliable sources, the ADC said.

He said the latest row broke out when a Mumbai-based pharmaceutical company appointed a new stockist in Pathanamthitta, Lekshmi Agencies, and started their supply to the agency.  Irked over this, the group led by Antony Tharian has intimated the company not to supply medicines to Lekshmi Agencies as it is not standing by his group.  He also informed the company that his association would boycott the company’s product should they continue supply to Lekshmi Agencies. Soon the company has stopped supply to the agency.

Defiant over the market totalitarianism of Antony Tharian, Suresh Lal, the proprietor of Lekshmi Agencies approached the high court apprising it that refusal of medicine to a licensee is the violation of section 18 of the Drugs & Cosmetics Act. He also filed complaints to the drugs control department and to the health ministry. Based on his complaint, the high court has issued an interim order to the company to resume supply of medicines to his agency.

Revi Menon said even though the court has ordered to commence supply, fearing the boycott threat of Antony Tharian, the C&F agent of this Mumbai-based company did not forward any stock to Suresh Lal. At last with the support of A N Mohan and K Sivasankaran, the president and secretary of AKCDA (Mohan group), Suresh Lal organised a dharna in front of the office of C&F at Market Road in Ernakulam on 20th of December. The agitation ended when the supply was resumed with the interference of officials of the company.

When contacted Suresh Lal said the company has stopped the supply again from the next day onwards and he was warned by Antony Tharian not to go forward with the support of court order.

Later while speaking to Pharmabiz, Antony Tharian said all these problems are created by certain people who are deliberately trying to wreck the organization and to destroy his image.

For the last few years, the chemists and druggists in Kerala are controlled by two groups, one led by A N Mohan, former AIOCD president and other by Antony Tharian, a leading distributor in the state. Both the groups are battling for the control of the entire retailers market, notwithstanding attempts from industry and regulatory side to unify them, which have so far yielded no result.