Telangana: 41 medical shops face notices for online pharmacy violations

The Telangana Drugs Control Administration (DCA) inspected 166 medical shops linked to online pharmacies during a special enforcement drive. Show-cause notices were issued to 41 shops for violations including dispensing medicines without prescriptions, lack of proper records, and absence of pharmacist supervision.

Hyderabad: The Drugs Control Administration of the Telangana government has issued show-cause notices to 41 shops linked to online pharmacies for violation of rules.

The Drug Control Administration (DCA) conducted a special enforcement drive on online pharmacies.

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DCA Director General Avinash Mohanty said in a release on Sunday that a total of 166 medical shops linked to online pharmacies across the State were inspected, and show-cause notices have been issued to 41 shops for violations of the Rules detected during the inspections.

The special enforcement drive was carried out on online pharmacies across the State on Saturday (June 6) to verify practices and ensure compliance with the provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Rules made thereunder.

During the drive, a total of 166 medical shops were inspected. These included 159 shops linked to online medicine delivery services (licensed premises of online pharmacy operators or their networked partner pharmacies) and seven shops associated with online B2B platforms such as IndiaMART.

The irregularities observed during the inspections include non-maintenance and failure to produce sales bills of medicines, failure to maintain prescription drug registers and Schedule H1 drug registers, failure to produce purchase invoices for medicines, dispensing of prescription medicines without valid prescriptions issued by a Registered Medical Practitioner, sale of medicines without the supervision of a Registered Pharmacist, and improper maintenance of copies of sales and purchase records.

Show cause notices were issued to 41 medical shops across the State linked to online pharmacies, and further action will be initiated as per the provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, and the Rules made thereunder, the DCA director general said.

The DCA reiterated that strict compliance with statutory requirements is mandatory for all medical shops, including those associated with online platforms. Any deviation from the prescribed norms will attract stringent action under the provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.

The public may report any complaints regarding illegal activities related to medicines, as well as any other suspected manufacturing activities concerning drugs, including narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, in residential, commercial, or industrial areas through the Drugs Control Administration, Telangana Toll-Free Number 1800-599-6969, operational from 10:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on all working days.