Put on hold permission of online drug sell: Chemists to Govt

An apex body of chemists and druggists today demanded that the proposed amendments to Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1940 and permission to online sell of medicines be put on hold till the Government draft is changed.
All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) has submitted a memorandum to the Union Health Ministry in this regard.
"We have submitted a memorandum to Secretary of Health Ministry demanding that the proposed amendments to Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1940 and permission to online sell of drugs be withhold till the draft is amended and objections raised are addressed by the Government," AIOCD President Jagannath Shinde said in a statement here.

He said decisions related to health of citizens should be taken with care.
Online sell of drugs should not be looked from the perspective of discount as long term and unrecoverable rights and security of customers should also be taken into consideration. In reality, the Centre has fixed profit of drug sellers and selling medicines at further discount raises doubts about their quality, he said.
Shinde said this competition with online pharmacies is unreasonable and puts a question mark over the existence of 8 lakh drug sellers.

A new authority has been proposed for online drug sell in the draft of the Central Government which is against the principles of decentralisation of the body, AIOCD said.

Rural areas don't have adequate health facilities and lack qualified doctors. Thus, the Centre needs to focus on strengthening regulatory mechanism which is currently weak, it said.
Shinde said the draft needs to include issues like entry of drug mafia, interest of customers and social interest of HIV patients.