The Union government should ban e-pharmacies as they are unregulated, Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi N.V.N. Somu, representing the DMK, has said.
In a special attention address in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, Dr. Kanimozhi said that across the country, certain websites and e-pharmacies were selling medicines. The government had not evolved a mechanism to regulate or approve such facilities. There were no checks on the quality of medicines sold. Such sale was illegal and dangerous, and could wreak havoc on people’s lives, she said.
Also, the e-pharmacies and websites did not require prescriptions from registered medical practitioners. This could cause long-term damage to people’s health, she cautioned.
Dr. Kanimozhi recalled that following protests by 12 lakh pharmacies in the country, who threatened to shut shop, the Union government had issued show-cause notices to 20 e-pharmacies and manufacturers. But nothing had changed.
She pointed out that following a Delhi High Court verdict calling for a ban on such online sale of medicines, the Madras, Patna and Bombay High Courts had followed suit, but the Union government had not taken any measures to ban them.
