Chemists across India to down shutters on Sept 28

LUCKNOW : Threatened by online pharmacies, about 8.5 lakh medical stores in the country will down shutters on September 28 on the call of the All-India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists. Medical stores will remain closed from September 27 midnight for 24-hours. “The government has failed to understand the threat from online medicine trade, the biggest being fake prescriptions used to obtain drugs by addicts,” said CDFUP general secretary Suresh Gupta.

LUCKNOW : Threatened by online pharmacies, about 8.5 lakh medical stores in the country will down shutters on September 28 (Friday) on the call of the All-India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD). Medical stores will remain closed from September 27 midnight for the next 24-hours.

“The government has failed to understand the threat from online medicine trade, the biggest being fake prescriptions used to obtain drugs by addicts,” said Chemists and Druggists’ Federation of Uttar Pradesh (CDFUP) general secretary Suresh Gupta at a media briefing on Monday.

AIOCD claims that under online system, no one will come to know whether the medicines being given are genuine or bogus and the entire system will run with the help of courier services and not pharmacists.

There are 1.25 lakh chemists in Uttar Pradesh, including over 80,000 retailers. Kumar said that e-pharmacies have several drawbacks.

“The government has not yet told us how they will check fake prescriptions,” he said.

The online system will also allow unmonitored sale-purchase of abortion pills with the help of bogus prescriptions. In a retail store, a shopkeeper can check the prescription manually and will not allow sale of medicines on such a prescription, said CDFUP patron Giriraj Rastogi.

“Daily wagers often buy medicines as per their purchasing capacity for the day. This facility will not be given under online trade,” said Kumar.

Retailers also provide the facility of returning medicines (particularly tablets) if they are not used when the doctor changes prescription.

This is a big facility for the poor, which will not be available if drugs are bought online, said Vikas Rastogi, a retail chemist in Lucknow.