Yahoo – AFP,
14 Oct 2015
New Delhi (AFP) - Around 800,000 Indian pharmacies downed their shutters Wednesday to demand a crackdown on online drug sales, which they say is unregulated and eroding their business.
Indian pharmacies are concerned about online drug sales, which they say are unregulated and eroding their business (AFP Photo/Philippe Lopez) |
New Delhi (AFP) - Around 800,000 Indian pharmacies downed their shutters Wednesday to demand a crackdown on online drug sales, which they say is unregulated and eroding their business.
The one-day
strike is aimed at curbing India's burgeoning online drug retail industry,
which the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) says is
putting customers at risk by failing to follow existing rules.
"It is
going to be a 100 percent strike. Approximately 800,000 chemists will be on
strike," AIOCD president J.S. Shinde told AFP.
"Our
own investigation has shown that anti-pregnancy pills, sleeping pills and
steroids are being sold freely online."
A slew of
companies opened shop online in India last year to tap a market worth more than
an estimated $10 billion.
Registered
e-pharmacies like 1mg and Zigy say they have teams of pharmacists who vet
prescriptions submitted online to counter potential abuse.
But India
has no specific rules covering e-retailers, and bricks-and-mortar sellers say
drugs are being sold online without proper verification.
"Our
business has also been affected by 40-50 percent because of drugs being sold
online," Shinde said.
"We
want the government to close down all illegal online pharma companies
immediately."
India's
government said it was in the process of drawing up guidelines to regulate
online drug sales.
"A
sub-committee has been constituted to look into the matter, which has so far
undertaken only preliminary discussions with the stakeholders to ascertain
their views," the health ministry said in a statement Tuesday.
Pharmacies
will be closed all day, although customers will be able to buy emergency drugs
through special telephone numbers printed on posters and newspapers.
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