PESHAWAR, June 1: The Pakistan Chemists and Druggists Association observed strike on Saturday against the imposition of general sales tax on medicines.

All medical stores in the city remained closed, adding to the miseries of the patients, as they could not find drugs prescribed to them by the doctors.

However, the PCDA had allowed two drugstores near Khyber Teaching Hospital and Lady Reading Hospital to operate to provide emergency cover to the patients.

Similarly, chemists in other parts of the country kept their shops closed to force the government to withdraw the decision on the GST. They also wore black armbands to register their protest.

The government on March 20 imposed the GST on medicines, saying that an amount of Rs4 billion would be collected under this head which would be utilized for the improvement of healthcare facilities in the state-run hospitals. However, the PCDA argued that the decision had been taken at the behest of multinational pharmaceutical companies.

Talking to Dawn, District President of PCDA, Peshawar, Arbab Javed Ahmad slammed the government decision to impose GST on drugs, saying the prices of pharmaceutical products were already high and the new tax would add to the woes of the common people.

“We plan to observe more strikes before national budget. We have launched a campaign on behalf of poor patients because they would be hit hard by the GST,” said Arbab Javed.

According to him, chemists would simply shift the 15 per cent GST to the consumers, losing nothing in the process.

The PCDA Secretary Information, Iqbal Khan, told Dawn that the association would hold a meeting on Tuesday which would chalk out future line of action. He said in the next phase of the protest campaign, hunger-strike camps would be established throughout the province which would be followed by indefinite strike.

He expressed concern over the cold-shoulder attitude of the government towards the problems of the patients. The government, he said, should impose taxes on luxury items, fashion drugs, multivitamins and spare the drugs which were commonly used by the people.

Senior Vice-Chairman of the PCDA, Abdul Hadi Khan told Dawn that about 15,000 chemists in the NWFP had been protesting against the GST but the government was least bothered about the problem.

Mr Khan claimed that chemists in other provinces would also observe strike from the next week which would continue till the withdrawal of the GST. He alleged that the government was helpless before the all-powerful bureaucracy which was in league with the MNCs and misguiding the government on important public issues.

The decision to impose the GST would backfire because it would allow a chance to the smugglers to flood local markets with cheap Indian drugs, he said, adding that the government would be deprived of the projected revenue from the new levy. — AY