Indian Drug Manufacturers Association (IDMA) and Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI) have taken serious objection to a Karnataka Labour Department's recent notification fixing working hours for sales promotion employees in the state. In a representation, industry bodies pointed out that the notification was not only unconstitutional and uncalled for but also issued without taking into account any views from the industry.

Karnataka Labour Department, in the notification, fixed the working hours of the medical representatives (MRs) in the state. Experts point out that this notification on several grounds have been found to be unjustified especially since no provisions in either the Sales and Promotion Employees (Conditions of Service) Act, 1976 nor the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 empowers the state government to fix the timing of work for any sales promotion employees.

Sources inform that this notification challenges the very nature of the MRs job profile which deals with working predominantly in the field, as per the availability and convenience of the doctors, pharmacies, medical stores etc. “One of the most important factor that the law makers have failed to notice is that the MRs cannot miss any customer in their territory due to stiff competition and they are required to call on a stipulated number of customers everyday as per their service conditions and not MRs. Considering all this it is imperative for the sales representatives to maintain variable and best suited timing to call their customers to drive maximum advantage which cannot be restricted by any fixed hours,” a highly placed source revealed.

The source further warned that arbitrarily fixing the working hours for the sales representatives is totally unjustified and is sure to affect the growth prospects of the industry, as they are key to developing distribution chain. Most importantly they also play an important role in analyzing market conditions while conveying adverse drug reporting if any drugs are counter indicative to patients. Thus with a view to safeguard the interest of the industry by ensuring undisrupted MR services, industry wants the government to withdraw this notification at the earliest.