OTC violation: Licenses of 15 medical stores to be cancelled

Dehradun, DECEMBER 2016:

Selling Schedule H prescription drugs has proved to be costly for medical stores in Dehradun, Uttarakahand, as the above mentioned drugs cannot be sold over the counter (OTC) without special license. The state drug department is set to cancel the licenses of as many as 15 drug stores.

An official has said that what the drug stores have done is a violation of provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945. They were allegedly selling the drugs and did not maintain any records of sale of these drugs.

This illegal practice of medical stores has been running on for more than six years despite some arrests for flouting the rules last year. But the problem still persists in the state. The medical stores have been found flouting the rule and they do not maintain any records of which medicine has been sold and on whose prescription.

Speaking to the media, Dehradun drug inspector, Anita Bharti,  said that that licenses of 15 medical stores will be cancelled for flouting the norms. She said that the root cause of increasing drug menace in the state lies in this illegal practice.

Paltan Bazaar, Mehuwala, Chandrabani, and Clemet Town are some of the areas of Dehradun where selling of Schedule H prescription drugs has been rampant. In 2015, the drug department cancelled licenses of 13 drug stores. Drugtodayonline