RAWALPINDI: Pharmacists in the garrison city on Monday observed a token strike in order to press the Punjab government to make amendments to the Punjab Drug Act to abolish heavy fines on retailers.

All pharmacies in Saddar, Bohar Bazaar and other areas in the city and Cantt remained closed during the day but were opened at night.

Drug store owners and their staff gathered at the Rawalpindi Press Club for a protest demonstration. They carried placards and chanted slogans against the provincial government. The almost 100 protesters dispersed peacefully afterwards.

They put notices on their shops saying they were closed in protest against the government. However, pharmacies in private and government run hospitals remained open but they charge customers who come from outside extra.

Threaten to close shops indefinitely if Punjab Drug Act not amended

An attendant of a patient at Holy Family Hospital, Mohammad Raffique said he wanted to get an injection for his father and that the doctors gave him the prescription so he can get it from Islamabad.

A patient at District Headquarters Hospital, Siraj Munir said the doctor at the outpatient department gave him a prescription which he was not able to fill due to all the shops being closed and that he had to wait till the night to buy the medicines.

The father of an eight-year-old child, Khalid Javed said he went to the Benazir Bhutto Hospital for a third dose of the anti-rabies vaccine for his son who was bitten by a dog last month and had to buy the injection from the I-8 markaz so his son did not miss his vaccine.

Pharmacy Trade Joint Action Committee Punjab Chairman Zahid Bakhtawari told Dawn the one-day token strike was held across the province.

“We are planning to go on strike for an undefined period and a meeting was held in this regard in Rawalpindi with representatives of 36 districts and we agreed on four points,” he said.

“We will move the courts and the election commission against four ministers in the Punjab government to disqualify them for not being sadiq and amin as they failed in fulfilling a written agreement between pharmacists and the Punjab government over the amendment to the Punjab Drug Act,” he said.

Mr Bakhtawari said the four ministers include Rana Sanullah, Khawaja Imran, Khawaja Suleman and Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman

“We also decided to launch a campaign among traders to not vote for the PML-N in the next general elections which will be launched in the 36 districts of Punjab within a week if the law is not amended,” he said.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2018