Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry had come out with a White Paper on the controversial e-pharmacy trade in India last month. The White Paper underlines the need for framing of a comprehensive set of guidelines or rules to legitimize the operations of internet sales of pharmaceutical products in the country. There are more than a dozen e-pharmacies operating in the country today with a steady growth in their sales. There are no rules laid down so far to regulate this new model of trading activity. FICCI recommends to the government that with widespread use of the Internet both in the urban and rural areas of the country, the barriers of accessibility and affordability of medicines, especially for the elderly can be effectively removed. The Paper notes that India is experiencing a steady and fast transition in disease profile with increasing burden of non-communicable diseases accounting for around 60 per cent of the total deaths. Rapid urbanization and sedentary lifestyle, especially among the working age groups are pushing them to premature lifestyle diseases. The need to take medicines lifelong is an unavoidable situation because of this trend. Easy accessibility and affordability of medicines thus become the major challenge for the patient community. FICCI says that these barriers could be effectively overcome by adopting technology, specifically the Internet, into the healthcare system. The white paper observes that a significant proportion of the population is willing to purchase medicines and related products over the internet considering the advantages it has and additional value it creates compared to the existing physical retail outlets. Lower prices, discounts, convenience in ordering and home delivery with preferred time and address are some of the major advantages that will prompt consumers to shift towards e-pharmacy.
FICCI also recommends that while e-pharmacies should be allowed for their benefits to the patient community there has to be adequate safeguards and under stringent regulatory control to protect the interest of the consumers. Two key safeguards suggested by FICCI are maintaining of a separate license and registry of e-pharmacy players and dispensation of scheduled drugs should be against a valid prescription from a Registered Medical Practitioner and delivery of medicines must be undertaken under the personal supervision of a registered pharmacist. Another suggestion is to restrict the sale of narcotics like morphine and other habit-forming drugs through e-pharmacy stores. FICCI’s recommendation is being strongly opposed by the All India Organization of Chemists & Druggists, the national body of pharmaceutical trade. Certainly, several thousands of retail chemists may get affected in the long run if they do not change their mode of business. The restrictive provisions suggested by FICCI and a few others government may bring in to the set of rules being framed to regulate internet trade should be able to protect the consumers in future. But, for that effective implementation of the internet rules is critical all over the country. The task is not going to be that easy for the authorities.