- Emergency services and life-saving drugs remain available.
Delhi’s chemists and druggists have announced a strike on May 20, with trader body RDCA One Delhi urging residents to purchase essential medicines in advance to avoid inconvenience. The protest has been called over several issues affecting pharmacists across the country, including alleged irregularities in online medicine sales, deep discounting practices, AI-generated prescriptions and concerns surrounding patient safety. Chemist associations, however, said emergency medicine services would continue during the strike and life-saving drugs would remain available at major hospitals, nursing homes and healthcare centres across the national capital.
Chemists Call Strike
The announcement was made after a meeting between representatives of the chemists’ body and the Drugs Control Department.
According to the association, medicine traders are protesting against what they described as unchecked online sale of medicines and the growing use of AI-generated prescriptions. They also raised concerns over heavy discounting by online platforms, alleging that such practices threaten the survival of small neighbourhood pharmacies.
The organisation appealed to the public to purchase routine medicines before May 20 to avoid disruption during the one-day strike.
Emergency Services Exempt
Despite the strike call, the association said emergency medical services would not be affected. Essential and life-saving medicines will continue to be supplied near major hospitals, nursing homes and emergency healthcare facilities across Delhi.
Officials said medicine sales in all districts are expected to gradually return to normal by the evening of May 20.
The issue has also drawn attention from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), which is reviewing concerns raised by chemists regarding online medicine sales and prescription verification.
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Online Medicine Sales Under Fire
Several state-level chemist bodies, however, have chosen not to participate in the protest.
Bihar Chemists and Druggists Association general secretary Prabhakar Kumar criticised online medicine platforms, alleging that medicines-including banned and addictive drugs-can be purchased without proper checks. He claimed that traditional pharmacies are required to maintain prescription records and registers for certain medicines, while online platforms allegedly bypass stricter safeguards.
The strike has once again highlighted growing tensions between conventional pharmacies and digital medicine delivery platforms, particularly over regulation, patient safety and the rapid rise of AI-assisted prescriptions.
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