Team Herald
PANJIM: Chemist and Druggist Association of Goa (CDAG) has decided to support the one day bandh on May 30 against the illegal sale of medicines on the internet.
In a statement, President of CDAG, Prasad Thamba said, “All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) has called for a one-day bandh on 30 May 2017 against the illegal sale of medicines on internet. All our members of the state of Goa are willingly participating in the bandh.”
AIOCD had dismissed the proposal of e-portal by the Central Health and Family Welfare Ministry for the regulation of sale of medicines with the remarks that it is impracticable.
In a letter to the Union ministry, AIOCD President Jagannath Shinde said, “Considering insufficient infrastructure of IT across the country, it will be difficult and embarrassing for most stockists, druggists and chemists to upload the details of the sale on the e-portal within a stipulated period. The Association is of the opinion that, this will cause scarcity of medicines in the country.”
Expressing apprehensions that the move will cause chaos, Shinde stated, “Availability of the medicines for the public should always be the subject of priority for any regulatory system, but the steps taken by the government are bound to cause more and more difficulties in the sale and availability of the life saving medicines and ultimately the public at large will have to face the scarcity of the medicines.”
