Pharmacos eye post offices may sell unprescribed drugs in rural India,,,,

Discuss Next time when you need aspirin, paracetamol, or vicks action 500, you may well go to the nearby post office and buy them. If the plans of domestic pharma industry goes well, the postman would have an opportunity to increase his income by delivering over the counter drugs (OTC) at the doorstep of rural masses.

The Rs 35,000-crore drug industry has proposed the government to utilise the post office space across the country to sell drugs that do not require prescription. “The idea is to increase the access of over the counter drugs especially in areas where there are no chemists shop. The post offices, in the process, would get the margins on the drugs sold as the chemists get,” ex-president Organisation of pharmaceutical producers of India (OPPI) Ranjit Shahani said on the sidelines of India Economic Summit.

The industry organisation has approached the government with the proposal and the latter is talking to officials in ministries such as health, chemicals and department of post and telegraph, so as to implement the proposal. There are about 1,50,000 post offices spanning across remote places in the country that could be used to sell medicines. The country has about 450,000 chemist shops that are mostly concentrated in big cities and towns.

OTC drugs are medicines that could be sold without a prescription as they have a proven safety record, while prescription drugs are sold at a pharmacy counter. Of the Rs 35,000 crore drug industry in the country OTC drugs account for about Rs 12,000 crore. The move to make such drugs available at the post offices would besides increase the reach would substantially increase its market.

When asked about the possible increase in market, Shahani said: “More important than the increase in market size, is people would get medicines at their doorstep. About 200 million people residing in the rural areas would have access to the medicines which would increase the reach of OTC drugs by about 20%.”

Industry experts, however, say the move would help increased sale of drugs that are not even allowed in some of the developed countries because of the side effects.

Some of the most common painkillers include Nise (Dr Reddy’s), Nimulid (Panacea Biotec) are discarded for reported liver damage, whereas vicks action 500 (used for cough and cold) is discarded for increasing chances of brain haemorrhage.

Drug abuse by ‘not-so-aware’ users becomes a possibility under those conditions. There is a greater...