20k medical shops shut in Mumbai, 200 kept open for emergencies amid strike

Mumbai: About 20,000 medical shops in Mumbai and over a lakh across the state remained shut on Wednesday in protest against online medicine delivery platforms.

The strike was called by the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD), which said that across the country, over 11 lakh pharmacies remained shut.

In response to the strike, the state Food and Drug Administration rolled out a helpline for citizens in dire need of medicines. Throughout the day, officials across the seven zones in the city received a few calls each from residents in need.

“Hospital-attached medical shops were open, as were the 24x7 pharmacies. We helped direct them to the nearest one to their location,” said an FDA official.

AIOCD said 200 such medical shops in the city were kept open throughout the day, and most stores opened by late evening. Yudhajit Dutta, 40, a Kolkata resident staying in Chembur for a short period, said that earlier in the day, he suffered from a sudden toothache but found all the medical shops shut when he went looking for a quick pain reliever. He reached out to the FDA emergency contacts for a solution. “They guided me to a pharmacy, but I was in too much pain and could hardly register the directions. Fortunately, a relative had some medicine with them, which helped.”