Illegal E-Sale Of Abortion Pills Traced To Delhi

12 APRIL 2018: Officials of the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) have tracked the firms involved in the illegal online sale of abortion pills to Delhi.

These firms, including the manufacture and currier operators, have been served show-cause notices for violation of norms, the officials said.

“A drug wholesaler in Pune got the medical termination kit (MTP) meant for abortion online without submitting a doctor's prescription. When he brought this to our notice, we tracked the online operator and found that it was operating from Delhi. We have served notices to the online operator and also to the MTP kit manufacturer and courier operator in this regard,” RP Chaudhari, assistant commissioner (drugs), FDA, Pune, said.

A few days ago, the FDA officials also spotted the illegal online sale of drugs run by a firm in Bhavani Peth in Pune. “We have served show-cause notice to the firm as the operator was dispensing drugs online without valid medical prescription,” Chaudhari said.

TOI has time and again highlighted how abortion pills are among the most abused medicaments in the city. A strict law that categorically maintains that the drug should be sold only when a prescription from a gynaecologist or a registered medical practitioner recognised by the MTP Act, 1971 is produced is often disregarded.

Abortion pills are not morning-after pills that are taken within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse so that conception does not occur. The MTP pills are to be taken when the pregnancy is proved and the person is not willing to carry on with it, irrespective of the sex of the fetus.

Their side-effects include abdominal pain and bleeding (attributed to the process of abortion), vomiting and nausea (on account of pregnancy) and in some cases, diarrhoea and fever.

“Any chemist or online operator bending the rules will be served a show-cause notice and may have his/her licence suspended under the Drug and Cosmetics Act, 1940,” Chaudhari added.The Times Of India