Srinagar, Aug 24: Due to prevailing unrest, the Srinagar city continues to face shortage of medicines.
 Many chemists told Greater Kashmir that they were facing acute shortage of drug supplies. “We are currently facing 30 per cent shortage in overall medicines, including routine as well as high-dose drugs,” said Fayaz Ahmad, proprietor, Prime Medicate, at Budshah Chowk.
 He said, they would receive around 200 medicines from a pharmaceutical company Nicholus Piramal India Ltd, but at present they don’t receive even a single drug of the company. The pharmacists, he said, were more concerned about the shortage of some insulin varieties, “for there are scores of patients, who badly need them.”
 “Many vital drugs are short in the market, which we are not currently able to receive from outside,” says Ashfaq Mahajan, proprietor, Mahajan Hamdard Drug Store.
 Many chemists said they were not able to file payments to the pharmaceutical companies in the wake of prevailing situation due to which they had stopped the drug supplies. “They don’t send us supplies unless they receive payments. The Kashmir based chemists are not given credit facility unlike our Jammu counterparts, who enjoy the facility from 21 to 30 days, in spite ours being one state,” said Fayaz Ahmad.
 While some chemists said they did not receive drug supplies from outside, many said once they receive medicines it takes them several days to get them unloaded under prevailing circumstances.
 Meanwhile, many consumers lamented that they had to search many drug stores before purchasing the medicine.
 However, some chemists maintained that there was no shortage of drugs at their stores.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 24 Aug 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 24 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 25 Aug 2010 00:00:00 IST