Rakesh Singh with son Vikas, who fractured his arm, at Patna Medical College and Hospital and (above) chemists stage a protest at Gandhi Maidan roundabout on Friday. Pictures by Deepak Kumar

Patients were in for a patience test on Friday as chemists went on a daylong strike.

When five-year-old Vikas fractured his left hand while playing in Biharsharif, 70km southeast of Patna, his father Rakesh Singh (32) rushed him all the way to the state capital to give him the best possible treatment. At the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH), doctors confirmed the fracture and prescribed some medicines.

Holding his son and the prescription, Rakesh headed for the chemist’s shop on the PMCH premises. The man across the counter told him: “These medicines are not available here and you won’t get them anywhere as all chemist shops are closed today (Friday) due to some strike.”

Rakesh did not understand why. He was unaware of the daylong nationwide strike call by chemists.

Handing his son over to his mother (Vikas’s grandmother Shakuntala Devi), Rakesh geared up for a fight. He asked the pharmacist: “Why are these medicines not available? These were prescribed by a PMCH doctor. Where are we supposed to go now? You mean to say that my child will have to wait one whole day to get these medicines?”

The man across the counter said: “Exactly, you have to wait. There is no option.”

Rakesh, a worker at a plastic factory, was not willing to give up so early. “I have come all the way from Biharsharif. It is really disappointing that the prescribed medicines are not available.”

Leaving his son with his mother he went outside to check some chemist shops. After almost 45 minutes in the 40°C scorcher, Rakesh returned empty-handed. He had checked every shop on Govind Mitra Road (wholesale market for medicines) but not a single shop was open.

“I think, we have to stay here for a day,” he told his mother.

All day, people were running with prescriptions to the chemist shop near the emergency ward at PMCH. Forget life-saving drugs, even general medicines were not available.

All this, despite assurances from the authorities that the public would not face any inconvenience finding medicines on Friday.

The chemists are on strike against the provision in the Drug and Cosmetic Act, 1940, which insists on the presence of a pharmacist at every medicine shop. They say they would now have to shell out an additional Rs 5,000-10,000 every month to be able to pay salary to the pharmacist.

Rahul Kumar (28), a farmer from Bakhtiyarpur, could not find medicines prescribed for his friend Anish Kumar four days ago. His friend is lying on hospital bed. “It is pathetic when medicines are not available at what is considered the best hospital in the state. Despite its reputation, chemist shops here failed to stock up on medicines. Other chemist shops are closed and I have no option. I don’t know how important these medicines are but the injection is essential. The doctor had told me to get it immediately,” said Rahul.

Mohammad Mustafa (38) of Supaul district, 270 km northeast of Patna, could not find Otrivin nasal drop and Sinarest, which he was badly in need of.

He had injured his head and nose in an accident few days ago. “I have a problem breathing and the doctor had asked me to get these medicines, but it’s not available. I think I have to wait some time, maybe I will get it in the evening,” Mustafa said.

Asked about non-availability of drugs, pharmacist Bharat Kumar said: “We can’t help it. If it’s not available, there is no option. We do not have any alternative.”

Bihar Chemists and Druggists Association president Parsam Kumar Singh said: “There is no doubt that people have faced problems but we have already asked district units to provide phone numbers of medicine wholesalers to all hospitals in the district so that supply of emergency drugs can be ensured. But it was not our duty to do the follow-up of this particular thing. Hospitals should have stocked up on medicines. It’s their fault, not ours.”

Asked about non-availability of simple drugs like amikacin sulphate injection, Pantop, Lemolate, Otrivin and Sinarest, PMCH acting superintendent Amar Kant Jha Amar said: “The medicine you are naming have not been there for the past nine months, it’s not the question of today, and we already working on it. All these drugs will be available within two days.”

He also claimed that no major surgery and work was affected at PMCH due to the chemists strike.