Retail chain shops, medical shops attached to private and public hospitals to operate on Wednesday as private medical shops remain shut

Kolhapur: Pharmacies associated with 24X7 retail chains and those attached with both private and public hospitals will continue to operate on Wednesday when all retail private pharmacies will remain shut to support the strike called by All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists.

Chemists running retail standalone pharmacies will keep their medical shops shut demanding regulation of online medicine sales. They said unregulated sales were hampering the sale of small chemists. Moreover, unregulated delivery of drugs requiring strict dispensation monitoring was causing grave risk to health of individuals.

To ensure that critical patients get their medicines on time, the Maharashtra govt has asked all district food and drugs administration offices to tie up with govt health establishments, ensure adequate stock of medicines with them and make the medicines available to critical patients.

“The generic medical shops, medical shops run by chain establishments, pharmacies of govt hospitals and private hospitals are going to ensure that medicines are available to patients. We have floated monitoring centres for every tehsil. Those who want medicines for emergency purposes can call, ” said Mahesh Kawatikwar, assistant commissioner FDA(drugs) Kolhapur.

Madan Patil, president, Kolhapur district chemists association, said, “The online sale of medicines is not regulated by Drugs and Cosmetics Act. We have several cases where the online pharmacies have made abortion pills, steroids, sedatives which require strict adherence of dispensation rules as per the act. All retail private medical shops are going to shut for a whole day but we have provided the details of the pharmacists to the district administration to reach out in case of emergency.”