The Indore meeting of the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) has decided to hold ‘Halla-Bol’ agitations (street protests) across the country from January 1 onwards against the Central government’s decision to set up National Pharmacy Commission (NPC) in place of Pharmacy Council of India.
The general council meeting of the pharmaceutical traders association has felt that the proposed bill for the NPC is a unilateral draft and it has not taken into consideration the opinions of the community pharmacists who are having face to face contact with a large number of populations requiring medications. These community pharmacists are the registered pharmacists with diploma or degree qualifications engaged in the pharmacy profession.
While proposing a resolution against the draft NPC bill in the meeting, JS Shinde, the president of the AIOCD, said the PCI is the statutory body for regulating the pharmacy profession in the country and it has a democratic set up. If the draft bill is enacted it will end the autonomous status of the state pharmacy councils which are constituted and functioning through democratic process with representation of elected members. Whereas, the proposed bill mandates members by nomination and that too from academic sector only. AIOCD says that these provisions will pave the way for a bureaucratic administration in the council instead of the democratically elected pharmacists.
According to information received from the AIOCD, as a first step of the protest, street agitations (Halla-bol) will be conducted in each Taluk on January 1 by the members of the chemist body to create awareness about the possible job security troubles to be faced by the community pharmacists with the establishment of the National Pharmacy Commission. In each state the agitations will be held at Taluk level and at the district level. All zonal vice-presidents have been directed to monitor the programme to be conducted in each state.
While Shinde will look into the programme organized by the Maharashtra CDA, Rajiv Singhal, the general secretary of the AIOCD will monitor the program in Madhya Pradesh. The organizing secretary Sandeep Nangia will attend the agitation in New Delhi, and Vaijanath Jaguste will inaugurate the agitation in Pune. AN Mohan, south zone vice president of the AIOCD has been assigned to monitor the program in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Mannargudi Ramachandran, president of the Thiruvarur district chemists and druggists association said he will lead the agitation at Kumbhakonam in Tanjore district and N Natarajan will inaugurate the programme in Chennai.
According to Vaijanath Jaguste, the EC member from Maharashtra to the AIOCD, the national drug traders’ general council has also decided to pressurize the Central government to take visible actions against illegal online pharmacy business. He said the Union health minister has assured the association that the government will protect the 12 lakh members of the AIOCD and will not let big corporate companies control the pharmaceutical trade in the country.
AN Mohan from Kerala presented a resolution in the general body against discount pharmacies which offer huge discounts on all medicines by directly purchasing the products from the manufacturers. He said this kind of business is unethical, hence legal measures are needed to weed out such pharmacies from the market. The AGM has passed the resolution and decided to apprise the government about its impact on the established drug traders.
