Solutions to issue of forced buying of entire medicine strips being sought
The government of India is thinking of ways of preventing people from being forced to buy entire strips of medicines when they need only a few, towards which end it recently held the first round of consultation with pharma and medical rindustry leaders.
After receiving many complaints from consumers about chemists forcing them to buy entire strips of medicines when they need only a few tablets or capsules, the Department of Consumer Affairs in the Union government has started consultations with senior representatives of the pharmaceutical and medical devices industries to find solutions to the issue, reports PTI.
Sometimes people need to buy medicines only for a day or two. Sometimes they buy in small quantities as they cannot afford to buy for an entire week.
The first round of consultation was held recently where, according to sources, various suggestions were made for making it convenient for chemists to sell medicines in smaller quantities—including adopting perforation technology to make strips easily dividable, printing manufacturing and expiry dates on each strip piece of a strip and using QR code.
Industry sources told PTI that chemists refuse to sell slow-moving drugs in small quantities because distributors or pharmaceutical companies refuse to take back unsold medicines if the strips are cut.
Further rounds of talks are scheduled to find a long-term solution to the issue.
