In a major crack down on pharmacies for operating without registered pharmacists, the Andhra Pradesh Drug Control Administration (AP DCA) conducted raids on the retail and corporate pharmacies in the state and booked as many as 281 cases against the medical shops spread across the state.

In the raid, it has been found by the AP DCA officials that more than 70 per cent of the pharmacies in the state are operating without registered pharmacists and do not issue regular bills to consumers.

The raids were conducted by DCA as a part of its special drive to check the functioning of registered pharmacists in the state. The drug inspectors and other DCA officials found various irregularities by many medical stores and issued notices to them especially with regard to the absence of the registered pharmacists and for selling outdated drugs at the stores.  

Corporate pharmacies like Apollo, Hetero Pharmacy, Medimart and Medplus were also raided.

When contacted a DCA official said, “We have conducted the raids as per the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 (DCA), the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945 (DCR). Many pharmacies are not complying with the rules and acts as mentioned while issuing the license.” Based on the complaints, the DCA has acted on the pharma stores and brought to light many irregularities.

About 406 retail medical shops throughout the state were raided  and out of these 281 retail medical shops were found selling medicines in the absence of registered pharmacists and without bills.

All the licensing authorities and assistant directors were directed to issue show-cause notices to the violators and appropriate action following the notices would be taken by the licensing authorities.

“We have noticed that registered pharmacists were not available at many retail pharmacies. So, the DCA inspected over 406 retail medical shops, including retail outlets of corporate pharmacies. Out of these, 281 medical shops were found selling medicines without pharmacists or without bill,” Said  R P Thakur, director general of DCA, Andhra Pradesh.

"We have even found that some expired drugs are being sold without bills and we have checked all these aspects while raiding the shops,” Thakur said.

“In addition to issuing show-cause notices, the shops will be closed for one week. If the same violation is repeated, we will cancel their license," he said.