The meeting held by the chemists’ organisations with the ministry of food and drug administration (FDA), the FDA commissioner, and a group of MLAs, to reach a solution to avoid the surrender of licences by chemists, has come to nought. However, the stakeholders have decided to hold another meeting with chief minister Prithviraj Chavan.
With no conclusive outcome of the meeting, 55,000 chemists across the state are now set to surrender their licences by July 15. Anil Navandar, president of the parent body of chemists associations, Maharashtra State Chemists and Druggists Associations (MSCDA) said, “Even after the meeting, the matter stands unresolved. The FDA commissioner is adamant on his stand. However, we have been assured of a meeting with the chief minister in another two to three days’ time.”
As of now, the chemists will sell the stock available with them by July 10, and return the remaining inventory to the manufacturers between July 10 and July 15, surrendering their licenses on July 15. If the standoff between the chemists’ associations and the FDA continues any longer, it will lead to a shortage of medicines in the market.
“The only outcome of today’s meeting was that there would be another meeting of the FDA ministry and its officers and the chemists’ associations, in presence of the chief minister,” said FDA minister Manohar Naik
The chemists have been agitating against the crackdown by the FDA to ensure mandatory adherence to the rule of a pharmacist’s presence in chemist stores at all times. The chemists, on a few occasions, have gone on a token strike by shutting shops.
The tension between the chemists’ associations and the FDA heated further, after the wholesalers stopped purchasing medicines from the beginning of this month. They claim that they are not left with any choice but to quit.