More than a year after health minister Surjya Kanta Mishra announced that doctors would not be allowed to practise in pharmacies from April 1, 2005, trouble is brewing on the horizon, with the Calcutta branch of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), the largest doctors? body in the city, deciding to protest the decision.

?We will take to the streets and even call a strike if the government does not withdraw its order. Nearly 10,000 doctors practise in pharmacies, because they don?t have an alternative. The government wants spacious chambers, which many doctors cannot afford. The people in power are leaving doctors with no choice but to starve by throwing them out of pharmacies,? said IMA joint secretary (headquarters) R.D. Dubey.

Starting with a convention at Raja Subodh Mullick Square, members of IMA?s city branch, known for its pro-Trinamul Congress bias, have organised rallies and demonstrations to protest the decision.

The government, however, is in no mood to relent. A plan has already been put in place to shut down chambers in pharmacies.

?A team of health department officials will visit pharmacies where doctors attend to patients. We will first serve them notices and wait for their response. If they do not respond, we will ask the Medical Council of India to take appropriate action,? said C.R. Maiti, director of medical education.

The chief medical officers of health and the vigilance cell of Swasthya Bhavan have already been asked to crack the whip post-April 1.

The Bengal branch of the IMA, which is known for its rivalry with the city branch, has already informed the government that it will ask its members not to practise in pharmacies.

?This is a moral and ethical issue. Whenever a doctor practises in a pharmacy, he or she, knowingly or unknowingly, influences sale in the shop,? Moloy Patra, treasurer and a key functionary in the Bengal branch of IMA said.

It is not just the pro-Left IMA Bengal branch that has sided with the government.

The Bengal Chemists and Druggists Association (BCDA), which controls 25,000-plus drug retailers, has decided not to protest the decision.

?We have been debating the issue for quite some time and have also carried out a survey, which revealed that only 30 per cent of the pharmacies allow doctors to practice on their premises. They will have to handle the situation on their own. The government can take any action against our members on this issue,? asserted Samir Ranjan Das, BCDA secretary.