With just hours to go before their strike was to begin, Maharashtra’s chemists have called off the proposed three-day strike.
State authorities including the Food and Drug Administration’s officials have agreed to the chemists’ list of 12 demands, said J. S. Shinde, President, All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists, after an over three-hour meeting at Kolhapur.
Following the intervention of the Chief Minister, the State has decided to start a Drug Advisory Committee, and come out with a list of over-the-counter drugs, Shinde told
The advisory committee would also look into the problem of cross prescriptions, where doctors, homeopaths and ayurveda practitioners prescribed allopathic medicines, he said. Complaints by the chemists on “corruption-related harassment” by the regulatory authority was also looked into, he said. FDA officials were not available for comment, as the breakthrough with chemists happened late in the evening.
Over 50,000 chemists in the State, about 6,000 in Mumbai alone, were expected to go on strike from Monday night.