Govt plans to make commonly used drugs available at local retail outlets

If you have fever, you need to go to a pharmacy to get even a paracetamol, a common drug for fever and pain. But, the government plans to soon make such drugs available at local retail outlets, with their labelling containing important information — preferred dosage and side effects — in local languages.

This is expected to help people in rural and far-flung areas, where pharmacies are rare. 

“A new schedule is likely to be created under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act for OTC (over-the-counter) drugs so that these commonly used medicines that are not ‘prescription only’ and are relatively