BDCA to protest against alleged harassment by drug inspectors in the name of compliance

Mumbai, June 26, 2019: The Bhagalpur District Chemists Association (BDCA) in Bihar has upped its ante for the alleged harassment by Bihar Directorate of Drugs Control inspectors in the name of drug laws compliance. They have announced that retailers will not buy any medicine from any of the pharma companies on July 20, 2019 which will be subsequently followed by wholesalers on August 16, 2019 as a mark of protest.

It has also announced that they are also planning to go for indefinite closure of retail and wholesale drug stores in the state from September 1, 2019. “There is complete lack of regulatory control on the pricing of drugs and hence no adherence to Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) defeating the purpose of compliance,” the chemist body reveals as a part of their campaign to blow the lid off the corrupt practices happening in the state. 

It has announced protests for the ongoing repressive tendencies, lackadaisical attitude and high handedness of drug inspectors who threaten licensed drug retailers and wholesalers for action on flimsy grounds for their vested interests.

The association has voiced its concern over the disparity in the number of retail drug shops and the pharmacists and has urged the state drug authority to address the issue of shortage of pharmacists.

Compounding the problem further, the government of Bihar has not appointed a regular drugs controller in the last four years and the seat is occupied by an in-charge officer. It has been learnt that due to the weak regulatory mechanism in the state, illegal drug suppliers exploit the opportunities to the maximum allegedly with the support of drug inspectors.

Very few medical shops in the state has the optimum infrastructure and only ten percent of the total stores engage registered pharmacists to dispense medicines. The drug inspectors rarely inspect the medical shops.

Most of the medical shops lack proper storage facilities. All medicines are kept direct to sunlight. The temperature and humidity inside the pharmacies are not maintained properly. The state drugs control department is pretending to be unaware of the gross violations.

The chemists body concluded in a statement that BDCA should not be held responsible for the protest as the authorities have turned a blind eye to their issues and problems. PharmaBiz