Website shut, chemists awaiting licence renewal a harried lot

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Rajiv Mahajan

Nurpur, November 16

Hundreds of chemists who want to renew their drug licences after a period of five years and people who desire to open new chemist shops in Kangra, especially in the lower areas of the district — comprising Nurpur, Jawali, Fatehpur and Indora subdivisions — are a harried lot as the online facility to make updates has been stalled for the past two and a half months.

Dues not cleared

• Online portal has been closed as the department has failed to clear the outstanding dues of the IT company operating the website
• The entire work related to drug licences has been halted across the state
• Pharmacists who have rented shops to start medicine trading unable to kick-start their new venture for want of a drug licence
• The traders who are running chemist shops say if the portal is not restored, there can be an artificial scarcity of branded medicines

As per information, the state Health Department’s online portal for renewal and issuance of drug licences has been closed due to failure on the part of the department to clear the outstanding dues of the IT company operating the website. The entire work related to drug licences across the state has come to halt.

Pharmacists who have rented shops to start medicine trading are the worst sufferers as they are unable to kick-start their new venture for want of a drug licence. They are paying rents even though they are unable to open and operate their shops as obtaining a drug licence is mandatory for running a chemist shop.

Manoj Kumar, a wholesale druggist at Jassur, said pharmaceutical companies have started turning down purchase orders from wholesalers, whose drug licences have not been renewed.

The traders who are running chemist shops in the area lament that if the portal is not restored in the near future, an artificial scarcity of branded medicines can hit medicine trading, affecting the treatment of many patients across the state. They have demanded that the state government intervenes in the matter and restore the website immediately.

Enquiries reveal that as many as 100 files pertaining to the renewal of drug licences and obtaining of new licenses have been kept on hold due to the stalled website. After the online facility for renewal and approval of drug licences through the portal had been introduced, the offline system had been withdrawn by the state government.

Dharamsala’s Assistant Drug Controller Ashish Raina said he was not aware of the reason behind the stalling of the website, but he had written to the state authorities to address the issue.