Hyderabad: Pharmacists who own their own shops were taking selfies outside their shops and uploading them on social media sites on Tuesday to show that the call for a nationwide bandh has not been successful.
The All-India Chemists and Druggists Association (AICDA) had called for the bandh on May 30 and more than 12,000 stores in the state were closed.
The chemists are protesting new rules that require e-portal registration and updating of every purchase and sale of medicines, as well as a prescription from a qualified medical practitioner..
Hospital and government pharmacies and privately owned pharmacies were open. “All our registered stores were closed but the private pharmacists had kept their stores open,” said Suman Gupta, joint secretary of the Telangana Pharmacists Association.
Doctor of Pharmacy Association (PharmaD), a non-profit professional organisation of pharmacists, however, opposed the strike call.
Defending the government’s move, Dr Katam Sai Kumar, national president of PharmaD, said the government was plugging the existing gaps in the sale of drugs in patients interest.
“This new regulation will ensure availability of drugs and good quality drugs which is in the patient’s interests,” he said.
