Login With Google
Madras HC bans online sale of medicines
Why is it in news?
- The Madras High Court directed : The Central government to notify the statutory rules related to online sale of drugs and medicines by January 31, 2019 and banned online sales till then.
- HC held that the pharmacies in the country would be entitled to sell medicines online only after obtaining licences under the rules that were now in the draft stage and yet to be finalised.
- It was a matter of serious concern that online sale of drugs : listed in Schedule H, H1 and X of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act of 1940 were rampant in the country though there was a specific legal bar on selling such medicines without the prescription of medical practitioners.
Colonial era Act
- The Drugs and Cosmetics Act was enacted during the colonial era and much before the advent of online trade.
- Though several amendments had been made to the law over the last 78 years, so far no provision had been introduced in it permitting online sale of drugs and medicines.
- As per the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules of 1945, it is not permitted to ship, mail or provide door delivery of the prescribed medicines. Yet, drugs of scheduled and non scheduled category are available online on different websites and distributed across the country. As on date, there are more than 3,500 such websites.
Source
The Hindu