The All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) has sought Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya's attention to the illegal sale of Narcotic and Psychotropic Drugs allegedly by Reliance Netmed.
The AIOCD stated in a letter to the Health minister that an e-pharmacy www.netmeds.com, owned by India Billionaire Reliance Group Company, has been caught red-handed selling medicines which fall under Narcotics and Psychotropic Drugs, by disregarding legal provisions, for profits.
The incident happened in Bhatinda, Punjab, a state already reeling under psychotropic drugs addiction, AIOCD stated.
The news report clearly states that the warehouse of www.netmeds.com was having 8,000 tabs of Tramadol, and 2,000 tabs of Tapendol while bottles of Corex cough syrup were still being counted, it mentioned.
Medicines are not common commodities that can be sold on frivolous prescriptions sent online by clicking a snapshot, it stated. This is one incident that has come to light, there might be several that never came into public knowledge, it added.
AIOCD also had recent news reports of factories from Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh selling spurious drugs online through such platforms, it further stated.
“There is already a grave threat from Anti-Microbial Resistance which we are facing and to increase it further, we have these e-pharmacies that are willing to sell narcotics for some meagre profits,” it added.
According to a recent study, 38 per cent of Superbug-infected ICU patients die in 14 days due to Anti Microbial Resistance (AMR), it mentioned
The risk of AMR has been increased multifold as these e-pharmacies are willing to send any medicines to patients on fake prescriptions, it added.
AIOCD stated that the government does not realize the threats to the health of the citizens and seems to be only interested in showing off numbers to the world. It will be too late to repair the loss, if action is not taken now, it stated.
AIOCD hopes that the government will do something to stop these illegally operating e-pharmacies which are against the laws, health, spirit, and conscience of the country, it added.
