Govt Plans Regulation Of Retail Pharmacies

The government is planning to tighten the norms for transporting, storing and selling medicines in the country even as big corporate houses are opening retail pharmacy chains and the existing ones get corporatised.

The proposed 'good distribution practices' would make it mandatory for every retail pharmacy to issue computerized receipts, employ a full time pharmacist who could guide the consumer to cheaper alternatives in case the prescribed drug is not available and to display the price list properly. Besides, the medical practitioners, who dispense medicines at their clinics, will have to get retail pharmacy licenses. For this, the schedule K of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act (DCA) would be amended. Twenty four hour refrigeration for medicines stored in the pharmacy and proper cold chain during transportation would be strictly enforced. "Making it mandatory to issue receipts would check counterfeit medicines getting into the supply chain as well as overcharging. The idea is to bring in a host of consumer friendly policies", said a senior chemicals ministry official.

The chemicals & fertilisers ministry is discussing these proposed amendments with the health ministry which administers the law. Pharmacies are licensed and regulated by the state governments.

These changes could very well push up the cost of compliance for stand alone pharmacies which do not have the economy of scale to lower costs and invest in good practices. In fact some pharmaceutical companies, that opened their own retail pharmacies earlier, had to close them down as the corporate tag forced them to adopt high standards that turned out to be too costly. The pharmacy chains, that are now mushrooming, on the other hand, aim to procure directly from drug makers and bypass wholesalers and distributors. According to market research agency Market Rx, retail pharmacy chains will have the economy of scale and could reduce the price to the consumer by a third.

Medicine Shoppe, Subiksha Retail, Apollo Pharmacy and Guardian Pharmacy are some of the existing chains, while Reliance Retail has big plans in this segment. Existing unorganised retail pharmacies are also in the process of getting corporatised.

(Ref : The Economic Times dated February 20, 2007)