Key Points
The promise of immediate scaling up in the digital business has led to a spawning of online pharmacies in India..
The practice of heavy discounting is "unethical" and may lead to influx of substandard and spurious medicines, "which in turn can play havoc with the lives of the patients", they said.. Online pharmacies have been accused of providing easy access to narcotic drugs, pregnancy termination kits, antibiotics and sedatives..
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare issued the draft amendment to the Rules, 1945, for inclusion of the rules to regulate online sale of drugs vide its August 28, 2018 notification and had called for objections and suggestions from all stakeholders..
But a chemists body challenged the ministry's notification, claiming that the draft rules were being pushed through in serious violation of the law, ignoring the health hazards caused due to sale of medicines online without proper regulations..
The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) in February this year issued show-cause notices to 20 e-pharmacies, including Tata 1mg, Amazon, Flipkart, NetMeds, MediBuddy, Practo, and Apollo, over the online sale of drugs in alleged violation of norms..
