19 hours Ago By Ishika Gupta
The All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) expressed discontent over the RailTel Corporation of India’s plans to invite bids from “illegal” online pharmacies to facilitate home delivery of medicines from railway-run hospitals. In a letter to the Railways Ministry, the AIOCD noted that the operation of online pharmacies in the country contravenes the current regulations governing medicine, thereby subjecting themselves to legal penalties. The chemists’ body was reacting to a news report by The Economic Times which disclosed the RailTel Corporation’s impending proposal, that would seek bids from several online pharmacies based on the discounts offered on the retail price of medicines.
To provide context, the Union Ministry of Railways owns RailTel , a public sector undertaking (PSU). Why are the operations illegal? Terming the decision an “error of judgment” by RailTel, the AIOCD noted several judgements and laws demonstrating the illegality of the online pharmacy business. Firstly, as per the pending 2018 cases of Dr Zaheer Ahmed vs Union of India and the South Chemists and Distributors Association (SCDA) vs Union of India, a prohibition exists on the operations of these pharmacies.
In another similar case in 2020, the former Joint Drugs Controller of India, P.B.N Prasad noted that the Aarogya Setu Mitra’s e-pharmacy services did not have registered/licensed e-pharmacies owing to the absence of such provisions under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945.
Moving forward, the AIOCD remarked that the doorstep delivery of medicines permitted during the COVID-19 pandemic only applies to neighbourhood pharmacies. Several points were listed in support of this argument, stating that such delivery is prohibited under the Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940: Further, the prescription must contain the following details: signature of the prescriber, name and address of the seller, and the date of description of the prescription, as per Section 65 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. Consequently, the sale of medicines through prescriptions uploaded online is illegal.
Finally, the organisation advocated for the immediate withdrawal of the RailTel proposal. Previous efforts by AIOCD The discussion of the illegitimate nature of online pharmacies has been a point of contention for the AIOCD and other medicine-related industries for a few years now. In 2020, the body requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ban the operations of such pharmacies, cautioning of a potential ‘business monopoly’ in the country.
These concerns stemmed from foreign direct investments (FDI) financing such pharmacies and using their large capital to influence the accessibility of medicines in the long run, Express Pharma reported . In the same year, the AIOCD also contested the commercial promotion of e-pharmacies like 1MG, PharmEasy, NetMeds, and MedLife on the AarogyaSetu app. Further in 2022, the organisation raised the issue of online pharmacies offering illegal and indiscriminate discounts to customers, adversely impacting small retailers and wholesalers country-wide.
Besides the AIOCD, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) and the SCDA have also been averse to the normalization of e-pharmacies in the country, claiming issues like the encouragement of cheaper and spurious drugs and disruption of doctor-patient confidentiality. Why it matters? In 2022, the Health Ministry released the draft Drugs, Medical Devices and Cosmetics Bill, including provisions for the government to make rules regulating online pharmacies among others for stakeholder comments. The rules are not notified despite the government tabling a 2023 version of the bill in the Lok Sabha last August.
This comes despite multiple calls from the High Courts of Delhi and Madras directing the central government and the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) to develop a policy for the online sale of medicines. The delayed notification is also concerning, with many e-pharmacies referring to themselves as “ intermediaries ” and claiming protection under the safe harbour principle owing to the absence of set regulations to govern them. In a previous conversation with MediaNama, Yash Aggarwal, the Legal Head at SCDA, explained that intermediaries can’t regulate and distribute drugs, which are the primary functions of e-pharmacies.
Further, he stated that since the online sale of drugs lacks a license required for medicine, the concept of intermediaries is invalid. With PharmEasy, NetMeds, Medlife, and 1mg controlling 85% of the market, the Indian online pharmacy sector is currently worth $3 billion . More recently, the quick commerce industry has also forayed into 10-minute doorstep medicine delivery services with ‘Flipkart Minutes’, seeking to operate in collaboration with local pharmacies.
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