Now, give personal details while buying cold, cough and fever drugs

LUCKNOW:Getting over-the-counter pills for common cold, fever or cough won’t be easy now as drug inspectors would need your name, address and contact number before you get the drugs.

“Name, contact number and address of people purchasing medicines (for common cold, fever or cough) over-the-counter be noted and compiled on a daily basis by drug inspectors of all the districts,” said a circular from the office of drug licensing and controlling authority, Uttar Pradesh.

The details of such customers has to be uploaded on the portal developed by the Food Safety and Drug Administration (FSDA) by the retail chemists in the state.

The drug inspectors have also been asked to inform these steps to the chemists. “The step is being taken in regard to the COVID-19 outbreak,” says the circular.

Meanwhile, the move has put retail chemists in a dilemma as they get several customers who purchase tablets or syrups for these problems during the day.

“Over 70% of the approximately 80,000 retail chemists in the state do not have computers. How would they feed data,” said Giriraj Rastogi, office bearer of the Chemists and Druggists Federation, Uttar Pradesh, a body of medicine retailers and wholesellers.

“These drugs are not scheduled, hence customers, particularly women, will raise objection when asked for their name, contact or address,” said Vikas Rastogi of the Lucknow Chemists’ Association.

There are scheduled drugs, such as those used as sleeping pills for which customers have to give details while purchasing them, but the new order is yet to be circulated among public.

The medicine sellers said the other way could be to first issue a message among the public and also make alternative arrangement for collection of data so that the entire sale is noted with the Food Safety and Drug Administration.