This habit is quite ingrained in us and hard to shake-off! We can procure them effortlessly from the friendly neighbourhood store and gulp with equal ease. A quack can get access to them and risk the life of the gullible, like the recent episode wherein the patient died of a bad reaction from ingesting a prescription drug. It’s a question of life and death, and yet it is seldom acknowledged.
The drive to make physician’s prescription mandatory while purchasing drugs by Drug Control Administration (DCA) of Telangana State has raised hackles in the pharmacists and druggists community. The fact, however, remains that the practice of buying Schedule H or X drugs and antibiotics without prescription is deep-rooted and requires more than the surprise inspections and suspensions of licenses.
On its part, the DCA has insisted that every drug store must ask for a doctor’s prescription while dispensing medicines. Stickers declaring ‘please produce medical prescription while purchasing drugs’ have now started being displayed inside drug stores. Even regular customers are politely reminded that there is a need to carry a doctor’s prescription despite being regulars.
“Nothing is in black and white. There are poor families who visit a medical shop in the hope of getting quick relief from cold or body pains. Is it fair to insist for a prescription from such persons? The prescription itself will cost not less than Rs. 200 these days,” argues G. Srinivas, general secretary, Telangana State Chemists and Druggists Association.
Sector experts, however, point out that abuse of antibiotics and developing resistance, as a result of it, is on the rise just because of ease of access of Schedule H drugs.
“What’s wrong in buying a schedule X drug based on a doctor’s prescription? After all, it’s the question of life and death, isn’t it? There could be exceptions in availability of a pharmacist in remote areas but there can’t be any exception in selling drugs without a prescription,” maintains Akun Sabharwal, Director of DCA.
To catch drug store owners unaware, drug inspectors from districts conduct surprise inspections in Hyderabad, while those in Hyderabad conduct similar inspections in the districts. In fact, DCA has served 15-days suspension of licenses to drug stores in Hyderabad and districts after they were found dispensing drugs without prescription.
“The Drugs and Cosmetics Act was drafted in 1940 and since then it’s an acknowledged fact that prescription is necessary. It’s important because there is a lot of resistance of antibiotics, which would be potentially life threatening in the future,” the DCA Director said.
Authorities have started cracking down on pharmacists who sell drugs without proper prescription
