Centre to set up e-portal to regulate online sale of drugs

All manufacturers, distributors and retailers, interested in selling drugs and medicines online will have to register themselves on an e-portal to be set up soon by the Centre, the Bombay High Court was told on Thursday. This information about the Centre'e proposed measure to regulate the online sale of drugs was given by the Maharashtra government to a bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice N M Jamdar.

The state government gave the information during hearing by the court a plea of city resident M Patil, highlighting the malady of easy, online availability of medicines with students buying drugs on strength of fake medical prescriptions.

The high court had earlier taken serious note of the malady and had asked the government as to what steps it proposed to take to tackle it.

Additional government pleader P P Kakade told the court that a public notice had been issued by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in March this year on the need to plug the gaps in sale of drugs, including their online sale. “The objective of such regulation would be to ensure availability of right drugs that meet the standards of quality to every person, in need of medicines, curbing anti-microbial resistance and also regulating supply of medicines online or on internet to persons or other entities outside India,” the notice said.

“The government proposes to establish a robust e-enabled structure for regulating the sale of medicines. An electronic platform will be developed and maintained by an autonomous body under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,” the notice said.