Amid government proposal for CCTV in doctor’s shops, 64% of consumers say chemists rarely ask for prescription: Survey | Today’s news
The Indian government has proposed mandatory CCTV surveillance in retail health shops to prevent unauthorized sale of prescription drugs. The Ministry of Health said the plan was proposed by an amendment to the Anti-Drug Rules of 1945. The amendment aims to tighten
The proposed amendment focuses on tightening the supervision of drugs from list H, H1 and X and will prevent their sale without a valid medical prescription.
How many people ask for prescriptions in medical stores?
Amidst this, a new survey by LocalCircles suggests that more than 50% of consumers say chemists rarely ask for a doctor’s prescription before selling medicines.
According to the findings of the same survey, only 15% said that the chemist usually or always insisted on prescriptions.
31% get help from a qualified pharmacist
The survey, which was said to be conducted nationwide, also pointed out that only 31% of consumers said they get help from a qualified pharmacist most of the time in medical stores.
However, 13% reported that they were assisted by an unqualified pharmacist in the shops. The question was: “In the last 12 months, when you visited your local pharmacy/dispensary and needed help, how often did a qualified pharmacist help you with a medicine/disease question?” Of the 19,409 respondents, 26% said that they were assisted by a qualified pharmacist most of the time when shopping. 5% said they always got help. While a further 22% said they were sometimes helped by a qualified pharmacist, 11% answered very rarely and 16% said never. 13% said the person helping them was not qualified, while 7% could not comment.
The survey also asked, “How did you primarily purchase medications in the past 12 months?” It was reported that 16,822 responded. In response, 62% said they either purchased the medication themselves or sent someone to a local pharmacy. Another 24% added that they have their order delivered to their doorstep from local stores. Only 14% said they rely on ePharmacy apps. A total of 86% of consumers surveyed said they chose their neighborhood pharmacy.
26% were not exposed to GST
The survey also looked at whether customers had received a GST invoice at the time of purchase in the last 12 months.
Of the 20,573 responses, 70% said they had received a printed GST bill or invoice. 26% of people surveyed have not received a GST bill. This included 3% who received a hand-generated GST bill, 9% who received a handwritten note, paper or medicine envelope with the total amount written on it, and 2% who received a bill via WhatsApp, phone or on delivery without a GST bill. 15% received no bill at all.
Allegedly 15% of those surveyed were sold drugs that were later found to be counterfeit or counterfeit.
The survey received over 1,06,000 responses across 327 districts in India.
