Imagine walking into a neighbourhood medical store with a prescription in hand. The pharmacist checks the medicine, packs it and hands it over. But what happens when there is no prescription? The finding comes as the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has proposed installing CCTV cameras at medical stores to make prescription-medicine sales traceable.
For a large number of consumers, the answer is that the medicine may still be sold, according to a nationwide survey.
The findings come as the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has floated a draft notification proposing mandatory CCTV surveillance at every medical store that dispenses drugs sold on a doctor’s prescription. Under the proposal, the supply, other than by wholesale, of any drug sold on the prescription of a Registered Medical Practitioner would have to take place under a CCTV surveillance system installed and maintained at the premises. The survey then looked at whether consumers were receiving assistance from qualified pharmacists when they needed help with medicine or disease-related queries. Consumers were also asked whether they received proper bills when buying medicines from local chemists. “A bill is not merely a tax document.
The survey found that 64% of consumers said their chemist never or rarely asked for a doctor’s prescription before selling medicines in the past 12 months. Only 15% said their chemist mostly or always refused to sell medicines without a prescription. The survey also found that only 31% of consumers were able to get assistance from a qualified pharmacist most of the time or always, while 13% said they were assisted by someone who was not a qualified pharmacist. The question received 19,409 responses. 31% of the consumers said they were able to get assistance from a qualified pharmacist most of the time or always. 27% of them said they never or very rarely received such assistance. Of the 20,573 respondents, 26% said they were not provided a GST bill.
It carries the batch number, expiry date and identity of the seller and provides a record if a medicine turns out to be expired, defective or counterfeit,” it said.
