Potentially addictive drugs including tablets, capsules, and syrups cannot be sold to anyone by chemists without a doctor’s prescription. (File)Despite the Punjab government’s attempts to increase awareness among chemists about regulating the supply of prescription drugs, its efforts appear inconsistent. While Punjab Drug Controller officials have conducted around 33 meetings in the state’s 22 districts between January and March, there are eight districts where not a single meeting was held, and another eight which had just one meeting each.
Potentially addictive drugs including tablets, capsules, and syrups cannot be sold to anyone by chemists without a doctor’s prescription.
From April 1, 2017, to March 31, 2019, the police and anti-drug Special Task Force jointly seized over 1.35 crore pills and capsules. In comparison, from April 1, 2015, to March 31, 2017, 36 lakh pills and capsules were seized by police. In the last two years, the recovery of pills and capsules has drastically gone up.
“We were asked to provide three months’ data about the meetings held with chemist associations to regulate the supply of prescription drugs. We were also asked about the number of unauthorized chemist shops which were closed between January 1 and March 31,” said an official, adding that seven such shops were closed across the state.
Asked why no meetings were conducted in some districts this time frame, the official said, “The meetings might have been conducted there in the quarter before Jan-March.”
Districts where zero such meetings were held were: Amritsar, Barnala, Bathinda, Gurdaspur, Mansa, Pathankot, Ropar and Sangrur. The maximum checks conducted in a district were seven, in Nawanshahr district.
The districts where only one meeting each was held were: Faridkot, Fazilka, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Muktsar, Patiala, SAS Nagar and Tarn Taran.
Punjab State Drug Controller Pardeep Kumar Mattu said, “We have now made a protocol where an officer from Chandigarh will go and hold a meeting with chemist associations in each district once in 15 days. Today, we have also issued a letter to the zonal licensing authorities to hold a weekly meeting at block level with chemists of the rural areas falling in the block. The meetings are aimed at spreading awareness about drug menace. We need to be both a regulator and a facilitator.”
Mattu added, “We have to strike a balance where legitimate requirement should be fulfilled and misuse should be stopped. We don’t want genuine patients to suffer. And we are against any diversion of the drug.”
Sources said a pilot project was on the anvil to monitor data relating to sale of prescription drugs in the state.
A senior government functionary said, “A similar project is being undertaken by the Centre and we will be using the software developed by the central government.”
