Over 15 lakh medical shops shut across India as chemists protest e-pharmacies

Over15 lakh chemists and druggists across the country have downed the shutters of their medical stores today (20 May) to protest against illegal online sale of medicines and "unprofessional competition" by corporate firms, the All-India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists said.

According to sources within the Tamil Nadu chapter of the association, nearly 40,000 pharmacies participated in the one-day protest, which was organised in opposition to alleged illegal operations by e-pharmacies and what the group described as predatory pricing practices by large corporate players.

Despite the widespread shutdown, several pharmacy chains and government-backed outlets continued operations. Authorities said pharmacies linked to hospitals, including Apollo, MedPlus, Tulasi Pharmacy and Muthu Pharmacy, did not join the strike.

Speaking at a press conference in Thane, AIOCD president and former MLC Jagannath Shinde said the nationwide shutdown had been organised to demand the rollback of notifications introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic, which he claimed had facilitated the unchecked growth of online medicine sales.

Shinde clarified that pharmacies attached to hospitals would continue operations during the strike to ensure emergency medicine services were not affected.

He alleged that online sale of medicines had contributed to the circulation of counterfeit drugs, antibiotics and other scheduled medicines without valid prescriptions, posing a significant risk to public health, especially among young people.

He further claimed that heavy discounting by online pharmacy platforms was severely impacting small chemists and independent retailers across the country.

According to Shinde, the Centre had introduced special relaxations during the pandemic to enable doorstep delivery of medicines, but those provisions had remained in place long after the health crisis had ended.

State-run outlets in Tamil Nadu such as Chief Minister’s Pharmacies, Tamil Nadu Cooperative Society Pharmacies and Prime Minister’s Jan Aushadhi Kendras also remained open.

Officials from the Tamil Nadu Drugs Control Department said around 5,000 pharmacies across the state continued functioning during the protest to ensure public access to medicines.

To minimise disruption and maintain the supply of essential medicines, the department established district-level helpline numbers for the public.

Authorities also deployed 69 drug inspectors, with at least two officers assigned to each district, to monitor the availability of medicines, oversee pharmacy operations and respond to any public health concerns arising from the strike.

The protest forms part of a larger nationwide agitation by chemists’ associations seeking stricter regulation of online medicine sales and greater safeguards for traditional retail pharmacies.

With IANS inputs