Saturday, December 29, 2012

Illegal And Unregulated Online Sales Of Prescribed Medicines In India

Online sales of prescribed medicines in India are still not taken seriously by Indian government. There are many companies and individuals who are openly engaging in illegal and unregulated online sales of prescribed medicines in India.

I have been doing research on this topic for the last six months and could not find much legal information about the same. The only legal information provided in this regard is made available by New Delhi based ICT law firm Perry4Law. Further, the only legally authentic and dedicated e-commerce platform in this regard is also managed by Perry4Law. See E-commerce laws and regulations in India in this regard.

This may be the reason that pharmaceuticals e-commerce players in India are not complying with techno legal requirements as prescribed by various laws. Pharmaceuticals e-commerce legal issues in India are still not followed by various e-commerce players in India.

A very disturbing trend in India is that much online health related and medicine/pharmaceuticals e-commerce portals, especially those operating in New Delhi and NCR, are openly violating laws of India. They deserve to be punished as they have caused serious risk to lives of millions of Indians. But what is surprising is that our health ministry and Indian government is sleeping over the matter.

According to Perry4Law’s Techno Legal Base (PTLB), many e-commerce portals, especially in NCR region, have opened their online shops for sale of prescribed drugs in India. They are simply violating the laws of India including the cyber law of India and health related laws. However, in their desire to earn profits, they have put the lives of many on risk.

Indian government is not playing the required role in this regard. When we have various regulations for selling of prescribed medicines in real time and offline world, there is no sense in allowing companies/individuals to sell life saving and life threatening drugs that also in an unregulated and illegal manner, opines PTLB.  

We are personally aware of few people who have engaged in e-commerce fields pertaining to health related products and pharmaceuticals. Needless to mention, they are clearly not following the laws of India, says PTLB.

A governmental crackdown is urgently required on such platforms just like we tackle quacks, suggests PTLB. It is in the own interest of online pharmacies of India to comply with various techno legal requirements that they are openly flouting as on date.