NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is reviewing whether to discontinue the doorstep delivery of medicines, which was allowed after the onset of Covid-19. Minister of State (MoS) at MoH&FW Anupriya Patel said this in a written reply to a parliament question asked by BJP MP from Karnataka, Jaggesh.
The decision comes after a representation from chemists and druggists associations demanding the withdrawal of government approval for doorstep delivery of medicines through e-pharmacies, citing alleged misuse and an increase in the unauthorised sale of drugs, the minister stated.
The representation had asked “whether the Government proposes to withdraw its earlier notification or regulate more tightly.” In the absence of final regulation, e-pharmacy platforms continue to sell habit-forming and psychotropic drugs without prescription. The medicines are sold without any quality assurance or physical verification, said the All-India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD).