Medicine shops remain shut across Bihar as 3-day strike begins

Medicine shops across Bihar remained shut on Wednesday as a three-day strike commenced in protest against the state government's new regulation that calls for mandatory recruitment of a qualified pharmacist at every medical store.

The strike call for January 22-24 has been given by Bihar Chemists and Druggists Association, though medical stores situated inside the premises of government and private hospitals have been exempted from the shutdown.

"We are not averse to having pharmacists at our shops. But there are less than 10,000 pharmacists in Bihar as against more than 50,000 medicine shops in the state. We cannot be blamed for this scenario," the association's president Parsan Kumar Singh told reporters.

He said as per the new guidelines issued by the state health department, medicine shops found to be running without pharmacists may be fined and have their licenses revoked.

"This is irrational and would only result in harassment of medical store owners at the hands of drug inspectors", he alleged.