Mumbai chemists call off strike

Chemists, who had threatened to down shutters for three days, have called off their strike. Members of the Maharashtra State Drug and Chemists Association (MSDCA) met FDA minister Satej Patil and state FDA commissioner Mahesh Zagade at Kolhapur on Monday, and after negotiations the strike was called off.

The government gave a go- ahead for forming the state- level drug consultative committee, comprising FDA officials, chemist associations and select licensee shop owners.

The MSDCA demanded that the committee should meet four times a year to address chemists’ grievances and discuss suggestions. “The FDA will also come out with a list of over-the-counter drugs that will be disseminated to chemists. Only these should be sold without prescription,” said Zagade.

He added that MSDCA demanded that a clause on uniformity on the level of punishment imposed on a chemist across the state be determined. “The licences of three chemists have been suspended for close to 90 days under Drugs and Cosmetics, 1940. We seek uniformity in imposing punishments,” said Hukumraj Mehta, president, MSCDA in Mumbai.

“An advisory panel will be formed to bring parity in state matters and matters of national law jurisdiction will be referred to the Centre,” Zagade said.

Since July, FDA has booked 35 chemists in the state, of which seven are from Mumbai, for errant practices, such as not maintaining records while dispensing abortion drugs, and 2,100 have received show-cause notices.