Heavy discounts, old prescriptions and 10-minute deliveries: Why thousands of pharmacies in Telangana are going on strike today

Key points

• A 34-year-old IT employee residing in Hyderabad’s Madhapur area uploads an old prescription on a medicine delivery app late at night and receives antibiotics and BP tablets at nearly 30% discount within minutes.
• A few kilometres away, a neighbourhood chemist in Punjagutta who has been running his pharmacy for over three decades says he cannot afford to offer even a fraction of the discount.
• That growing clash between instant medicine delivery platforms and traditional pharmacies has now erupted into a nationwide call for a strike, with thousands of pharmacies across Telangana set to stay shut on Wednesday (May 20).
• The strike call was given by the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD), raising concerns over unfair practices by online pharmacies and corporate medicine retail chains.
• In Telangana alone, around 45,000 pharmacies are expected to participate in the strike, with nearly 20,000 of them located in Hyderabad, according to...