Concerned over the emerging e-pharmacy services in pharmaceutical trade in various parts of the country, the Tamil Nadu Chemists and Druggists Association (TNCDA) along with its national trade body and state branches, may approach the Union government to immediately stop the e-commerce in pharmacy retail sector.

The association is planning to undertake a nationwide agitation to fight against the launching of on-line pharma trade in the retail level by chain pharmacy groups and multinational companies.

“We are planning to protest the growth of e-pharmacy in the country. The chemists and druggists in the country are doing services in all the villages and cities in the country and the patients are getting quality drugs from the pharmacists. Pharmacists at the stores will check the medicines and give information about the medicines to the patients. If the e-pharmacy is developed, the worst sufferers will be the poor patients in the country, so the government should not encourage such move and stop this trend from the beginning. After all, the existing system of pharmacy trade gives bread and butter to lakhs of families in the country”, said N Anandan, secretary of TNCDA.  

Remark about the e-pharmacy is that the on-line sales of medicines and related pharma products to the customers raises alarms on the fate of good and quality pharmacy services to the patients in the country. The existing system of drug trade through pharmacy stores provides the patients information about drug usages, side effects, availability of alternative brands etc from the pharmacists at the counters. The e-pharmacy services will expunge the conventional community pharmacy system in the country where in all the nook and corners the retail pharmacy stores provide all essential medicines for 24 hours. There is no legal provision in selling drugs through on-line services to the patients at their homes, he added.

Recently, MedPlus, the chain pharmacy group has launched e-commerce services for pharma trade in Hyderabad and there is report that the company is planning to expand the services to 50 cities in the country. They claim that this on –line trade system will help the customers to pick the medicines within 6 hrs from the nearest MedPlus store and can save up to 15 per cent on cost of medicines. Whereas, TNCDA argues, pharmacy retail stores are operating in all the rural areas in the country currently, and the customers are able to buy their medicines within seconds from the vicinity of their residences.

There is report that former Igate CEO, Phaneesh Murthy, has also started an e-pharmacy company, PM Health and Life Care, to enter into the field of domestic e-commerce in pharmacy trade. The company will open ten branches in various cities in another three months.

When sought the response of the director of drugs control in Tamil Nadu, M Abdul Khader, he said there is no legal provision to allow e-pharmacy business at retail levels. “The medicine business must comply with the laws of the country. Since there is no law permits to sell drugs without the presence of a pharmacist at the store, we will not allow to run e-pharmacy in the state. It has no legal status, hence we will not give permission. If any complaint is received from any corner, we will definitely take action”, he told Pharmabiz.