End blockade, or patients will die: Chemists :Greater Kashmir

FAHEEM ASLAM


Srinagar, Aug 16: Chemists and other people associated with drug business on Saturday said they were running out of vital medicinal stocks, warning the government that if the blockade to the Valley is not ended forthwith, patients would die.
Many retailers, chemists and stockists, who spoke to Greater Kashmir, said they haven’t received any consignment from outside during the past 15 days of the blockade, enforced by the right wing groups. “We have a very meager stock of vital drugs in store now. If the blockade won’t end immediately, people would die on daily basis for want of drugs,” said a retailer, Khursheed Ahmad of World Line Medicines at Khayam. “This time my shop has not a single tablet of medicines like Aceloc and Paracetamol.”
Ahmad said he would buy medicines on daily basis from the distributors. “But we haven’t received any consignment from Jammu or Delhi for the past more than two weeks,” he said.
Similar views are expressed by Ghulam Rasool, a wholesaler dealer. “The government is lying that there is no blockade. Our trade has suffered a lot due to it,” he said.
Ghulam Rasool works under the banner of KF Traders at Karan Nagar. “Normally we would receive consignment after every week, but because of the blockade, we haven’t received any so far.”
Ghulam Rasool said the patients suffering from diabetes, blood pressure or other similar ailments would be the worst hit if the blockade won’t end. “Such patients need drugs on daily basis. They have to purchase it from the market, which is running dry,” he said. “We talked to the divisional commissioner Kashmir some time back and asked him to ensure smooth flow of trucks along the highway so that the medicines reach the Valley.”
Chemists and druggists say that majority of their super-stockists are located in Jammu, Chandigarh and Delhi. “We got some vital drugs airlifted two days ago. But I am sure that all chemist shops would run out of stock in the next two to three days,” said Muhammad Ashraf, a chemist.
However many chemists said the picture of how many drugs are available was not clear as the local distributor outlets were not functioning for the past few days. “This time the diabetic patients are the worst hit. If the local distributors would open their shutters, we would at least come to know about the availability of stock with them. Whatever the stock available with them should be forwarded to the retailers for use of patients. I am sure it would help hundreds of patients for the time being,” said a dealer, Iqbal Bazaz, of Asian Pharma at Batamaloo