Chemists threaten month-long strike against amendments

LAHORE: The Pakistan Chemists and Druggists Association (PCDA) on Tuesday warned of a month-long strike starting May 25 if the Punjab government failed to withdraw amendments to the Drug Act 1976.

The amendments, which chemists and store owners protested against, tightened the rules for medical stores. The aim was to eradicate spurious and substandard medicines and regulate prices.

PCDA Chairman Ishaq Mayo, while addressing a news conference at the Lahore Press Club, demanded the provincial government immediately withdraw amendments made in 2017 to the Drug Act 1976. He warned that wholesalers, chemists, and medical stores owners would go on a month-long strike.

He said that as per the new amendments, all unregistered medicines would be considered fake and those producing and selling such medicines would be punished with heavy fines. Under the amendments, some 1,500 pharmacists would not be able to sell medicines, which come under scheduled-G, such as vaccines and tetanus injections etc, he added.



He accused the government of trying to establish the monopoly of some ‘favourite’ pharmaceutical companies. “The government wants to destroy the local Pharma industry,” the PCDA chairman alleged.

Mayo further claimed that the government was acting on the advice of some people, who, according to him, wanted to introduce their franchises in the province by shutting the business of local manufacturers and drug store owners.

Elaborating on the association’s objections over the amendments, he said, a section of the new amendments stipulated the arrest of chemist if any spurious, substandard or expired drugs were found from their shops. He said that there was no question of selling expired medicine by store owners, adding manufacturers removed such drugs even before the expiry date. “The government knows well that there is no substandard or expired medicine available at any shop,” he claimed.

The PCDA chairman accused the government of trying to pressure chemists to wind up their businesses..

When contacted, a health department spokesman said that the government would not be intimidated by any threat or tactic. He said shutter-down strikes and closure of medical stores would create problems for patients.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 24^th, 2017.