Instant door delivery of medicines in Hyderabad soon

Following the disruption of traditional standalone medical shops by online medical stores, quick commerce platforms are now preparing ground for rapid doorstep delivery service.

Hyderabad: Very soon, like food and daily groceries, your monthly stock of medicines will be delivered at your doorstep in a matter of 10 to 15 minutes by delivery partners, that too with deep discounts and pay-later offers.

Following the disruption of traditional standalone medical shops by online medical stores, quick commerce platforms are now preparing ground for rapid doorstep delivery service.

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A few weeks ago, Swiggy-Instamart in collaboration with online medicine store Pharmeasy launched a pilot service at Bengaluru with a promise that medicines will now be delivered in minutes. Similar initiatives are expected to be launched in other cities in the coming months, reports suggested.

The concept of instant door delivery of medicines is novel, however, has raised several questions. Major associations representing druggists and chemists from Telangana State and elsewhere in the country have raised questions over such initiatives.

“At present, medical shops follow rules and regulations like having a qualified pharmacist, mandatory infrastructure to store medicines to maintain their quality and dispense medicines based on prescriptions. How will you ensure these regulations in online medical stores and quick commerce platforms are enforced? How will one make sure that the customer is getting quality medicines?” asks president, Chemists and Druggists Association of Telangana, R Srinivas.

A senior member of All India Organization of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD), Srinivas points out the strict rules to retail drugs in India to ensure patient safety. “Such partnerships are likely to ignore standards like proper prescription checking and patient identification. Unregulated operation of e-pharmacies will increase the problem of anti-microbial resistance (AMR) and undermine efforts to check it,” he says.

Highlighting these reservations, recently the national body of AIOCD had written to the Central Drug Standards Control Organization (CDSCO), urging it to review permissions for such initiatives.

“The regulatory authorities must thoroughly review the issues raised by us. Such initiatives not only raise concerns not only legally but also from public health point of view,” the chemists and druggists association members said.

Important points:

• Quick commerce platforms preparing ground to deliver medicines at doorstep in minutes

• Pilot initiative launched in Bengaluru through Swiggy-Pharmeasy collaboration

• Chemists and druggists association raise questions over such an initiative with regulators

• Such initiatives might ignore standards like prescription checks and patient identification

• Will undermine efforts to control Anti-Microbial Resistances (AMR)

• Such initiatives compromises quality and patient safety, associations say