600 chemist shops in Chandigarh are going to close on Tuesday and this is because of the all-India protest against the Government. This protest is going to take place due to the online sale of medicines. On protest day medical shops only inside hospitals will be open. There are around 20 shops inside city based hospitals only that will be open on Tuesday.

According to the president, Chandigarh Chemists’ Association quality of medicines can be compromised because of online sale of medicines and also there are not any check on sale of spurious drugs or those medicines which have to be sold strictly by prescription.

Sale of drug Online:

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  According to Chandigarh Chemist Association, online sales of medicines can create some problems and that can be related to quality. They were saying that quality of medicines can be compromised due online sale of medicines.
• Another problem can be the sale of spurious drugs or those medicines which have to be sold strictly only by prescription.

Sub- Committee Was Formed To Prevent Issue Of Drugs:

To avoid some problems related to the online sale of drugs, drugs controller general of India formed a sub-committee last year. This committee helps to examine the issue of regulating online sale of drugs under the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945. This committee gives some recommendations to solve the problems related to the online sale of drugs.

• The committee recommended that a registry of pharmacies be made available.
• To prevent the sale of spurious drugs or medicines which have to be provided strictly by prescription, a logo for identifying the authenticity of the e-pharmacy can be displayed on every page of the internet portal and mobile application, the panel suggested.
• Various stakeholders have recommended launch of a national portal at the central level to route all online transactions and e-prescriptions through it.
• Existing wholesalers and retailers can be registered here. To prevent the sale of spurious medicine, the online sale shall only be allowed through this national portal.
• The sub-committee recommended that the online portal discloses complete transaction details to the licensing authority on request.
• The health ministry held many discussions with stakeholders and prepared a regulatory mechanism to ensure patients are benefitted by the online portal.

Why This Pharmacy Portal Is Made:

This Pharmacy portal was made for the benefits for chronic, elderly patients living in nuclear families and patients who are not in a condition to go out to find a pharmacy. But chemist is not in favour of this and that is the reason for their protest. According to the chemists, they have compelled the government to reconsider disadvantages and they have been working on revising the proposal. They also said that this new system wants all transactions to be monitored from manufacturers to retailers. The retailers need to scan the prescription, upload them and sell the medicines. This is not possible in an emergency sale of medicines