Government body deliberates over online pharmacy
Indian Express reports this interesting news
about online Pharmacies. Online drug sales, which are presently prohibited, may
soon receive a boost from the central government’s latest deliberations to
initiate a
monitored e-sale mechanism of drug and medical supplies on web portals.
During its latest 48th Drug Consultative
Committee meeting, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has
formed a sub-committee to check the feasibility of online pharmacy. Currently,
only licensed chemist suppliers can physically sell medicines after checking
the patient’s prescription and in presence of a registered pharmacist. With no
foolproof method in place to scrutinise a prescription online before
dispatching the medicines, the e-retail of drugs has not been permitted under
the Drug and Cosmetics Act, 1940, and Drug and Cosmetics Rules, 1945.
According to Drug Controller General of
India, G N Singh, the online scenario may change now. In a reply to
Ghatkopar-based ChemistsOnline.com’s query, the CDSCO said that various
organisations had approached them for regulating online drug sales, after which
the committee was set up.
Online drug sales came into the limelight
after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) slapped a notice on e-commerce
giant, Snapdeal,
in May this year. According to FDA commissioner Harshdeep Kamble, the FDA had
found more than 45 drugs listed on Snapdeal website that primarily contravened
with the provisions of Drugs Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisement) Act,
1954. Days after, Shopclues.com was sent a notice for not complying with Drug
and Cosmetics Rules, 1945. “We had put 18 other websites under the scanner
after irregularities surfaced. After sending them notices, they stopped the
sale of drugs on their websites,” said Kamble. While the permission to buy and
sell medicines online would cheer customers, pharmacists claim it would become
difficult to monitor sale of Schedule X and Schedule K drugs, which can only be
sold in certain quantities after the chemist’s stamp on the prescription.
Sachin Inamdar, general secretary of Maharashtra Pharmacy Welfare Association,
said that online market can face discrepancies. “In shops, there is a
pharmacist to check prescription of each patient and give them dosage
instructions. In online sales, this is not possible unless a pharmacist
delivers medicine door to door and checks the prescription personally,” he said.
Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/government-body-deliberates-over-online-pharmacy/
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