Pharmaceuticals : Limited Prescription

Early this month the Delhi government launched a drive to identify chemists who are selling prescription drugs without adequate documents. The state government has been taking many radical measures to bring a semblance of rationality to the drug market and this is its latest step. Unfortunately, changing therapeutic practices or drug consumption patterns is not an easy process.

As the state health minister explained, the stricter monitoring of drug sellers has been undertaken to ensure that they adhere to the requirements of the licensing act which specify that drugs in certain categories are not to be sold without a proper prescription. This is to ensure that medicines such as antibiotics, and others including psychotropic drugs, the consumption of which needs to be medically monitored, are not misused or abused. In most countries of the west these regulations are sometimes so strict that even high-dosage non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs or topical applications containing steroids cannot be obtained over-the-counter. Laterally this has meant that drug consumption patterns can be accurately monitored by examining filed prescriptions in hospitals and drug stores. In India, it is virtually impossible to obtain a clear picture of patterns of consumption for several reasons, one of which is the neglect by chemists in adhering to the requirements of the law in this matter. An even more serious outcome of irrational consumption patterns is the emergence of drug resistant pathogens. While over-the-counter buying of high potency antibiotics contributes to this, the other even more important cause is the irrational drug practices of doctors.