PINAKI MAJUMDAR
Jamshedpur, May 14: The Confederation of All India Traders ( CAIT) has expressed its disappointment on the failure of the union health ministry for not taking any action on e-pharmacies that are flouting rules and regulations of the Drug and Cosmetic Act despite writing to the ministry several times in the past.
CAIT, the apex body of traders has also urged Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya to make public the recommendations of a GoM headed by Defence Minister Raj Nath Singh on this critical issue.
Open defiance of the Drug and Cosmetics Act and rules and also e-pharmacies indulging in anti-consumer practices and risking the safety and health of the Indian consumers and chemists have made the chemist trade non-competitive, said CAIT in a statement.
CAIT national secretary Suresh Sonthalia, who stays in Jamshedpur said that e-pharmacy marketplaces are misusing the loopholes in the law and playing with the lives of innocent Indian consumers by selling drugs without prescription and dispensing drugs without a registered pharmacist. E-pharmacy marketplaces like Pharm easy, Tata 1Mg, Netmeds and Amazon Pharmacy are at the forefront of these blatant violations.
Cait national vice-president Brij Mohan Agarrwal said that the government should permit only those e-pharmacies that own the drugs and no person must be allowed to establish a web portal to act as an intermediary between the e-pharmacy entity and consumer.
For instance, if a spurious, adulterated or misbranded drug gets delivered to the consumer, a marketplace like Pharmeasy or Netmeds will always hide behind intermediary protection which is rampant malpractice even in e-commerce. However, the advantage of section 79 of the Information Technology Act must not be given to e-pharmacies.
Besides protecting lakhs of small chemists and the health safety of the citizens of the Country, the e-pharmacies should be asked to close their operations. The CAIT has sought an audience with Mandaviya.
Suresh Sonthalia urged the government to ensure that all drugs are disbursed only from the registered retail pharmacy and only by a registered pharmacist after following the due verification process to ensure consumers get exactly what they order. Both the trade leaders said that government should impose a minimum penalty of Rs 1 lakh which may extend to Rs 10 lakh so that violators like Pharm easy, Netmeds, Amazon Pharmacy, and Tata1Mg are suitably penalised.
