Chemists unhappy with e-pharmacies

Pune: 2018 was the year pharmacies made significant progress in the e-commerce arena. The Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) approved the draft regulations of the Health Ministry to allow the the sale of drugs online by e-pharmacies.
 
However, retail chemists and druggists have time and again opposed the concept of e-pharmacies. This year, strike and protests were organised by the chemists across the country to express their unhappiness about the drafted regulations.

The new regulations prohibit e-pharmacies from selling Schedule X drugs, psychotropic substance, habit-forming medicines like painkillers, opioid, sleeping pills and cough syrups. The Central government has put forth the idea that because of online pharmacy there will be more rural penetration of important drugs. Moreover, an online presence can help reduce the price of the drug.
 
Speaking to Sakal Times, Rajeev Sibal, spokesperson from Lupin, a leading pharma company said their sales representatives are well penetrated into the country to enable customer adoption and maximise health awareness.

“We continue to explore maximising our reach in some of the remotest areas through multiple initiatives like tele-marketing, digital outreach and work towards creating a connect with our customers to create product awareness and a top of mind recall.”

Speaking about the need for regulation, Sibal said that health information is one of the most accessed topics online, and the same is on a rise in India as well.

“However, for patients, it is vital to be sure of the quality of information and credibility of the source,” Sibal said. 

“This verification is one of the biggest challenges patients face. Keeping this in mind, it’s imperative to have regulations in place to ensure the public at large is presented with trustworthy and credible information,” said Sibal.

Speaking about the threat that e-pharmacy poses, a chemist from the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD), said that the proposed e-pharmacy draft aims to give permission to online pharmacies to register and start selling medicines only.

“The chemists association has time and again underlined that in e-pharmacy there is a chance that the wrong kind of medicines are sent to patients. Some drugs like insulin which are used by diabetic patients need to be maintained at proper temperature. Moreover, in the case of diabetes and other kinds of medicines, they require a proper cold chain to maintain a certain temperature. How will an e-pharmacy design that? And what is the guarantee that the patient will get the medicine which is not spoiled,” asked the chemist.

He added that it was observed that many Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) kits were sent to underage girls. These kits can put the lives of these girls at risk, noted the chemists.
“It was also seen that many sleeping pills were delivered to patients without any proper prescription from doctors. Also, mild addictive drugs were also sent in huge quantities through e-pharmacy. The government should include provisions where such issues are addressed,” said the chemist.