Chemists strike May 20: Why Indian pharmacists protest e-pharmacies over rules, prices and safety

The All India Organization of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD), which represents nearly 12.4 million chemists, pharmacists and drug distributors across India, has announced a nationwide strike on May 20. The protest for the day is expected to disrupt the supply of medicines in several parts of the country.

The association says the aim of the protest is to highlight loopholes in legislation that it believes have allowed e-pharmacies and instant drug delivery platforms to operate without sufficient oversight.

What do chemists demand?

The AIOCD has requested the Center to withdraw two notifications – GSR 220(E) and GSR 817(E).

The association says these provisions have allowed online pharmacies to operate in what it describes as a “legal gray area” without a comprehensive framework governing prescription verification, drug dispensing and liability for violations.

According to The Indian Express, AIOCD Secretary General Rajiv Singhal said there is growing concern about e-pharmacies and instant delivery apps allegedly dispensing incorrect or fake prescriptions due to loopholes in the law.

“We understand that online pharmacies are here to stay, but they should be regulated as strictly as brick-and-mortar ones. That’s why we have asked the government to withdraw notifications GSR 220(E) and GSR 817(E), which allowed these pharmacies to operate in a legal gray zone,” Singhal told IE.

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GSR 817(E) is a draft notification issued around eight years ago to create a regulatory framework for e-pharmacy in India. It proposed a registration system for online pharmacies, prescription verification standards, operational safeguards and penalties for violations.

However, the draft notice was never finalized and was under review for years. In a 2019 Rajya Sabha reply, then Health and Welfare Minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey said that the comments from stakeholders on the draft rules were still being examined.

According to the AIOCD, this long-standing uncertainty has allowed e-pharmacies to continue to operate without a clear legal structure.

What is GSR 220(E)?

The Department of Health and Welfare introduced GSR 220(E) during the Covid-19 pandemic as an emergency measure that allowed registered pharmacies to supply medicines directly to consumers.

The AIOCD says that while this measure may have been justified during the pandemic, e-pharmacies are now exploiting it as a loophole in operations without a dedicated framework for online sales of medicines.

Singhal told IE that repeated assurances of a review did not lead to concrete action. “The review has been going on for years,” he said.

The association also raised concerns about patient safety and market competition.

According to the AIOCD, some online platforms allegedly dispense drugs on fake or improperly verified prescriptions, including those issued by unregistered doctors. The association has also raised concerns about deep discounting and what it describes as predatory pricing by e-pharmacies, saying discounts of more than 50% are unsustainable for smaller neighborhood pharmacies and represent unfair competition. Singhal told IE that such pricing practices create an imbalance in the market, arguing that “corporates can pump their profits to offer such discounts” that smaller chemists cannot match.

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Will the strike affect the supply of medicines?

Representatives of the chemists’ body met with the top medicines regulator last month. According to the AIOCD, the health department has assured them to look into the matter. Central Drug Standards Control Organization (CDSCO) officials said the concerns of chemists are being actively considered, according to government sources cited by IE.

The health ministry has indicated that some state-level pharmacy associations, including those in West Bengal, may not participate in the strike, and several state bodies have decided to stay away after the regulator assured the matter was under review. However, the AIOCD insists that the strike will be nationwide.