NEW DELHI: The government is determined to put a complete ban on the online sale of drugs and medicines, a top official told this newspaper after a high-level meeting was called on Thursday by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya in this regard.
The meeting was called after online platforms failed to give satisfactory response on the show-cause notices issued to them early this month. The health ministry had issued notices to more than a dozen of companies including biggies like Amazon, Flipkart, Practo, Tata1mg, PharmEasy, Apollo, Zeelabs and Healthcart for selling drugs online without necessary licences.
“Over-the-counter sale of drugs is not allowed in the country. Many instances of drug abuse, especially among youth have surfaced lately. The government is determined to put an outright ban on sale of drugs online as the these data are misused by pharma companies to increase sales. Also, there can be severe ill-effects of online sale of drugs,” a top government official said.
The Centre is of the view that online sale of drugs without doctor’s prescription or even otherwise, poses threats to the public health including drug abuse, especially among youth. It’s a great risk to national security as well as the online data can be misused for criminal activities by promoting addictive medicines.
The government has been receiving various representations raising concerns regarding sale of drugs via online platforms in contravention to the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 & rules there under. Some drugs are also being sold online which are only allowed for sale by retail under a valid prescription of a registered medical practitioner and supplied under the supervision of a pharmacist, according to another high level official.
The Delhi High Court in 2018 had ordered a ban of online sale of drugs across the country. There are cases in various courts in this regard requesting to prohibit the online sale of drugs, the official added. “Various reports and surveys claim India has the second-largest population of internet users. This number is continuously expanding. Not just adults, children too use the internet, and this may cause severe health hazards in case we don’t put a ban on online sales,” the official cited above said.
Govt issues show cause notices to over dozen firms
Health ministry had issued show cause notices to more than a dozen of companies including biggies like Amazon, Flipkart, Practo, Tata1mg, PharmEasy, Apollo, Zeelabs and Healthcart etc for selling drugs online without necessary licences