Dehradun, May 21 -- Medical stores across Uttarakhand remained shut for 24 hours till late evening today, as chemists and druggists joined the nationwide strike called by the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists in protest against the growing expansion of e-pharmacy and online medicine sales. The symbolic shutdown, which began at midnight on 19 May and continued till midnight tonight, saw overwhelming participation from retail and wholesale medicine traders, severely affecting pharmaceutical business activity across the state while simultaneously intensifying the debate over the future of traditional medical stores.

According to traders' associations, nearly 95 per cent of medical stores across Uttarakhand remained closed dur...