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Indian Doctors to Boycott U.S., British Drug Companies
BOMBAY, India, Nov. 12 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A group of Muslim doctors in Bombay plan to boycott U.S. and British-made drugs to protest the killing of dozens of innocent civilians in Afghanistan, a doctors' association official said Monday.
The executive body of the Muslim Medicos Association is drawing up a list of companies to be included in the boycott.
"This is our way of protesting against these inhuman attacks on innocent Afghans," Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted a Dr. Azimuddin, secretary of the newly formed Muslim Medico's Association.
"Just as we condemned the killing of innocent people in the September 11 attacks in the U.S., we also condemn the killing of innocent civilians in Afghanistan."
Azimuddin's group is spearheading the boycott, which is planned for Monday.
"We already have support of over 500 such doctors in our campaign against these strikes on Afghanistan," Azimuddin added. "Over 5,000 Muslim doctors are practicing in and around Bombay itself. We will get them into our movement."
The doctors, many of them surgeons, psychiatrists, gynecologists and general practitioners, will, however, prescribe "life-saving drugs" by U.S. and British companies, if the medicine is not otherwise available.
Some of the 5,000 doctors joining the protest are non-Muslims, he said.
Foreign companies likely to be boycotted include Pfizer Inc., Glaxo Wellcome, Parke-Davis, Fulford India, and Wyethe Lederle, said Azimuddian. He claimed the boycott would affect five percent of the drug firms' sales in India.
"In place of these companies, we will now advocate drugs made by Indian companies so that patients will not be inconvenienced. Most of the drugs made by multinationals are also manufactured by local companies," AFP quoted him as saying.
Azimuddin said the association has still not finalized the list of companies to be boycotted, as many U.S. and British pharmaceutical companies have local joint ventures and marketing agreements.
"We are making a list of 100 percent-owned American and British companies. If there are no Indian substitutes available for American products, we will prescribe drugs made by joint ventures between American and Indian companies," he added.
The association, which formed on Friday, hopes to include at least 5,000 Muslim doctors from Bombay to convey the boycott message to all Muslims associated with the medical profession, including paramedics and drug stores.
The boycott would continue as long as the U.S.-led military action in Afghanistan continues, Azimuddin said.
With just over 140 million Muslims, India has the world's second-largest Islamic population after Indonesia.
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