RAWALPINDI: Patients continued to suffer as the pharmacies and medicine dealers’ strike, to protest amendments to the Punjab Drug Act, entered its second day.

The local administration suggested that pharmacies in front of government-run hospitals be opened to facilitate patients, but strike participants refused to do so. Patients shuttled between Saddar and Murree Road, where pharmacies remained shut. However, pharmacies in the federal capital were open.

“Medicines are not available at the hospital, and now the chemists have gone on strike, and that has created problems for patients,” said Mohammad Akbar, a patient at the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital. Mr Akbar said it was strange that people related to healthcare services carried out strikes.

Salman Akhter, a patient at the Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH), said he visited the hospital for a second dose of the rabies vaccine, because he was bitten by a dog. “The government-run hospital gave me the first dose, but the second injection I had to purchase from a private pharmacy.”

He said he could not find the injection due to the strike, and the hospital refused to provide him with it because they had a limited stock and said they only provide an initial dose at the emergency department.

Another patient, Abdul Rehman, said he had to travel to Islamabad for medicines.

According to the principal of the Rawalpindi Medical College and the CEO of the allied hospitals, Prof Dr Mohammad Umer, the city’s three government hospitals have an adequate stock of essential medicines to facilitate patients.

He said government hospitals were providing patients with essential and life saving drugs, but patients at private clinics and hospitals were suffering. “The chemists’ strike is unjustified, as it creates problems for patients,” he added.

He said the strike should be carried out for a few hours, and a total strike was against the people and not the government. Dr Umer said the chemists should review their decision and open their shops immediately.

However, Pakistan Chemists and Druggists Association District President Malik Arshad Awan said the provincial government should repeat the amendments to the act, and the minister for primary and secondary health – Khawaja Imran Nazir – should resign for using abusive language against the pharmaceutical industry and chemists.

He said the strike would continue until the demands were met, adding that the local administration tried to open the shops but the strike participants refused to meet with them.

He said the chemists have contacted former MNA Hanif Abbasi for talks with the provincial government, because he is also from the pharmaceutical industry.

“His family and brother, Basit Abbasi, supported the chemists strike with association and assured to continue their support,” he said.

District Health Authority CEO Dr Fayyaz Butt said the health department failed to convince the association to open pharmacies in front of hospitals, and has contacted the government for its assistance in resolving the matter.

A funeral in absentia, for the victims of the terrorist attack in Lahore on Monday, was offered on College Road by the chemists association. Chemists attended the funeral and set up a protest camp.

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2017