Medicine distributors and clearing agents have urged the state government to make arrangements to ferry those who work in godowns and shops so that drugs can be loaded and unloaded and retailers can replenish their stock.

At a meeting with health department officials on Sunday evening, wholesalers and distributors of medicines across Calcutta requested the state government to work out ways so that the staff engaged by medicine godowns and wholesale shops could be considered as “emergency work force” and brought to Calcutta from the suburbs.

The traders also suggested that once these staff reached Calcutta, they should be allowed to board government buses meant for those on emergency duty.

“The government has all its resources in place. We have requested them to work out something for these staff,” said Sankha Roy Chowdhury, the president of the Bengal Chemist and Druggist Association. “Loading and unloading of medicines have been severely hit. That has affected retail supply chain of medicines.”

The government is yet to respond to the plea.

On Monday, chief minister Mamata Banerjee asked the administration to ensure supply of medicines was not disrupted. Officials were asked to see to it that supply of medicines requiring cold chain — the ones that need to be preserved at a certain low temperature — is not hampered during the lockdown.

Vaccines, glaucoma eye drops, insulin and aerosol sprays are some of the key cold chain drugs and several medicine distributors had complained about their unavailability at the meeting with health department officials on Sunday. “You have to ensure that supply of cold chain medicines is not hampered. The suppliers shouldn’t be stopped at any point,” the chief minister said at a meeting with all district magistrates and police superintendents from Nabanna.

Supply of medicines in general has been hit across all retail outlets in Calcutta and the districts. Distributors and clearing agents said this was primarily because of acute shortage of manpower.

Across parts of Mehta Building and Bagri Market in Burrabazar, the largest wholesale hub of medicines, a handful of workers turned up on Monday for loading medicines on trucks and Matadors.

“These men were demanding Rs 150 for loading one carton of drugs. Earlier, they would demand Rs 15-20,” said a wholesaler at Bagri Market.

“We had asked the health department on Sunday to at least arrange for buses that would carry medicines to various places from Calcutta,” said a distributor.

“We have made arrangements for a bus to leave Calcutta by Monday evening with medicines to parts of north Bengal. Another bus-load of medicines will leave for south Bengal by Tuesday,” a health department official said.