Brothers Vishi and Ranvir Mangal who have been running pharmacies in Medway for a total of 36 years. Now Vishi and Ranvir Mangal are both fighting battles against plans for new businesses in direct competition as Dan Bloom and Rebecca Hughes report.

Campaigners against two planned pharmacies in Strood are close to learning their fate after tense meetings this week.

More than 2,000 people signed a petition against a bid for two 100-hour pharmacies at the Gun Lane and St Mary’s medical centres.

They say this would threaten two pharmacies owned by 62-year-old businessman Ranvir Mangal – Bryant Road Pharmacy, in Strood, and Williams Chemist, in Frindsbury, which won a Pride in Medway nomination last year.

Two final public meetings took place this week after hundreds of residents wrote to the NHS, many complaining about unfair and direct competition.

The chairman of the Kent and Medway pharmaceutical regulations committee, John Butler, warned a decision was just weeks away as the applications had exceeded their time limit.

He told the Messenger: "We have to be fair to the applicant. The committee has to make a decision unless there are points which need to be consulted on with our lawyers."

Both new pharmacies would be run by private owners, but pay rent to the NHS. Williams opened 16 years ago and Bryant Road has run for more than 100.

Bryant Road employee Diana Sands, 62, took her first job in a pharmacy as a 15-year-old assistant at Boots in Star Hill, Rochester.

The grandmother-of-two said: "Doctors just want to profit from it. They will be the landlords and the pharmacies will pay them rent.

"It was a blow to hear one surgery wanted a 100-hour pharmacy, then a few weeks later there was another one. We don’t need them."

Mountain Top Investments applied to run St Mary’s pharmacy in January, while South East Health Plus made preliminary plans to run a Gun Lane pharmacy in March.

A loophole means pharmacy planners do not have to prove a "local need" if they promise to stay open for more than 100 hours a week.

Kym Lowder, for South East Health Plus, admitted to residents this week it was "unlikely" the firm would have passed the needs test.

But she added: "I have studied the area and there are gaps in services, in things like needle exchange, chlamydia testing and the morning-after pill.

"You are obviously very supportive of the contractors you already have, but I don’t personally know any circumstances where a pharmacy has gone to the wall."

Rochester and Strood MP Mark Reckless said: "I have written to the Primary Care Trust supporting the campaign, and particularly saying I don’t think the 100-hour rule makes any sense.

"We’re trying to change the legislation and I think some operators are trying it on before the loophole is closed."

Meanwhile, Gillingham residents campaigning against a new pharmacy have gathered more than 250 letters of opposition as the deadline for complaints nears.

They believe the competition will cause the closure of the Sturdee Avenue Pharmacy and joint pharmacy and rip out the "heart" of the community.

Owner Vishi Mangal’s business is already competing with two other 100-hour pharmacies and fears his business will close if a third, the Woodlands Road Pharmacy, opens.

Mr Mangal said: "Everyone is worried about it. Once this shop goes down, the whole place goes down." Campaign co-ordinator Jim Whammond said: It is going to be the breakdown of another community. It is all slowly slipping away."

However, Sturdee Avenue resident Chris Small, 30, said Mr Mangal’s pharmacy is not sufficient and another is needed. He said: "My baby daughter was ill and we couldn’t find an open pharmacy here at night. I don’t want local business lost, but I’d also like to get prescriptions around work.

The consultation with NHS Medway runs until Saturday.