Last Updated on November 1, 2019 by The Health Master
The Telangana Drug Control Administration (DCA) has issued notices to 35 pharmacies in Hyderabad and Ranagareddy districts for selling habit forming, various antibiotics and pregnancy termination medicines without doctor’s prescription.
In an investigation conducted by the state DCA, it was found that a majority of pharmacies in the state are indiscriminately resorting to over the counter (OTC) sale of habit forming, various antibiotics and pregnancy termination medicines without doctor’s prescription, flouting the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and Pharmacy Act.
According to senior officials from DCA Hyderabad, during their field investigation it has been found that a majority of the pharmacies in the state were violating the pharmacy regulations and were selling over the counter various habit forming and antibiotic drugs without any prescription from a registered practitioner. “In our investigation, we could identify as many as 35 errant pharmacies in the Hyderabad and Rangareddy district limits. We have also issued notices and sought explanation from them within 15 days. Except one or two, a majority of recipients of notices have yet to furnish their explanation. We are going to take stringent action against the errant pharmacies. Apart from penalising them for the violation, we may also issue closure notices soon,” informed a senior officer from DCA, Rangareddy district.
Not just in Ranagareddy and Hyderabad districts, the DCA from various other districts are also contemplating to conduct field level investigations and expected to conduct raids on pharmacies in all the districts of Telangana.
In fact, earlier this month, the DCA authorities had got a tip-off against a few pharmacies in Hyderabad old city and Rajendranagar zone that they are resorting to indiscriminate sales of habit forming drugs without any prescription. Acting on this, the DCA officials from Rangareddy district conducted raids on various pharmacies located in Sulaiman Nagar, Chintalmet, Mailardevpally and Shashtripuram areas and checked their records and found that majority of them were violating the pharmacy regulations. Not just selling the drugs over the counter, but in majority of these pharmacies, the officials found no presence of a pharmacist during dispensing the medicines.
The DCA officials also conducted raids on various pharmacies in old city areas of Hyderabad like Hasannagar, Indranagar, Mahmoodnagar and Phadi. Here also the DCA authorities noticed similar violations.
After finding violations in these areas, the DCA officials have decided to conduct similar raids on pharmacies in various areas and are contemplating to take action against the errant pharmacies.
