The joint coordination committee of the Retail and Dispensing Chemists Association (RDCA) and Pharmaceutical Wholesalers Association (PWA) are  planning to stop the practice of dispensing medicines to the patients who approach chemist shops without having a doctor's prescription. There are 7000 pharmacies in the city and all of them downed shutters yesterday against   Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) tough stance against enforcing rules on chemist shops.

Says Prasad Davane, convener secretary of the chemists’ joint coordination committee, "The strike is in response to Maharashtra FDA issuance of around 1000 illegal stop sale notices over a period of 8 months which has impacted the trade and has discouraged pharmacies to serve the public. It has been a major harassment when FDA’s drug inspector visits chemist shops with a letter endorsed by the assistant commissioner just to stop sales and suspend or cancel licences."

The authority has also been falsely implicating chemists for the increase in the number of drug-resistant cases and Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs), citing that sales happen without bills. Penalising pharmacists for dispensing medicines without maintaining records of bills and pharmacist's absence even for a brief period in a retail shop is totally uncalled for. A doctor does not have to face the same harassment as a qualified pharmacist is subjected to despite the fact that the pharmacist has been trained in pharmacology and medicines," added Davane.

Sujit Parmar, president, Maharashtra Pharmacist Welfare Association (MPWA) with over 20, 000 pharmacists from the state, however, begs to differ and says that FDA has done their job by acting tough on the offending retail shops for not hiring a qualified pharmacist and not maintaining records.

As per the official records, Maharashtra FDA has done 5083 inspections and found pharmacists absent in 1566 shops during these inspections in Mumbai alone. Cancellation of licenses have been done in five per cent of retail establishments across the State.

Maharashtra FDA Commissioner Mahesh Zagade have however maintained that retail establishments not respecting the law of the land will be penalised under the Essential Supplies & Commodities Act (ESMA) and Drugs & Cosmetics Act.

With retail chemist stores shut between 7am to 11pm on Monday, those in need of medicines had to rely on pharmacies located on hospital's premises or those chemists who defied the strike call. There are over 500 hospital pharmacies across Mumbai.