The food and drug administration (FDA) on Friday said that they had not received any official intimation or otherwise from any of the associations of the chemists and druggists regarding surrendering their licences. The FDA further said that the associations are trying to create panic amongst people, patients in particular,and that it was just a pressure tactic.
FDA commissioner Mahesh Zhagade on Friday said, “There has been talk of chemists threatening to surrender their licences, but as per my knowledge, no one till date has come forward and got in touch about this. The associations are resorting to rumour-mongering to create panic in the market.”
Meanwhile, the Pharmacists Wholesalers Association (PWA) has maintained that about 55,000 chemists are set to surrender their licences by July 15. However, PWA said it did not feel the need to communicate this to the FDA. “We have submitted a memorandum to the concerned ministers, i.e. Satej Patil, Manohar Naik and also to the chief minister. We have even had a meeting with the CM,” said Dilip Mehta, president of PWA.
Explaining further the need to not inform the FDA about the decision, Mr Mehta said, “We felt that it’s pointless to inform the commissioner because precedent suggests that all our meeting with him have been futile. We think he doesn’t understand our concerns.”
The commissioner, however, said that if chemists wanted to surrender their licences, then the FDA will accept it immediately, because it only means that they are not fit to abide by the law and unable to operate legally.
The chemists have been agitating for the past few months because of stringent action by the FDA, specifically ensuring the presence of a certified pharmacist at all times in a chemist store.