In early February 2023, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) tugged up no less than twenty enterprises including Tata-1mg, Flipkart, Apollo, PharmEasy, Amazon, and Reliance Netmeds, by delivering them a show cause notice, for selling and marketing medicines online. This incident occurred after the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD), an influential antechamber of more than 12 lakh pharmacists, impended to start a nationwide protest if the government did not act. Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, the Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Chemicals and Fertilizers of India, in close-door summits with senior administrators of the Ministry has made clear the drawbacks of selling medicines virtually. The Minister went so far as to mention that e-pharmacies should be closed down.
Developments in technology, the accessibility of the internet, and digitalization have transformed the lifestyle of human beings. The world is transitioning from offline to online markets. The enlarged trend and swing to E-commerce has led to the arrival of online e-pharmacies. India’s e-pharmacy market was measured at ₹26 billion in 2021 and is anticipated to touch about ₹90 billion in 2027 with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 22%.
The latest onslaught on around twenty e-pharmacies has a Chinese link. The government seemingly is uncomfortable with the increasing supremacy of Chinese existence with its projected ₹20,000 crore investments concerning the online sale of medicines. Irrespective of the Chinese angle, e-pharmacies have long been blamed for functioning in the shadows and undertaking abandoned drug and medicine sales. The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) initially outlawed the online sale of medicines in December 2015. But closely eight years later, it endures being a grey area. The recent draft New Drugs, Medical Devices, and Cosmetics Bill 2022 has widespread provisions including concurrent inspections, complaint redressal mechanisms, monitoring e-pharmacies, and others. All it requires now is a good closer.
For a long time, the trade association, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), representative of retail chemists and druggists, has alleged online contestants of destructive pricing and breaching the established provisions under the Drugs and Cosmetics Acts and Rules. In 2016, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) formed a self-regulation code for e-pharmacies, still, the attack continued, and with good reason. Indian rules and regulations do not permit delivery of prescription medicines by unregistered pharmacies. Even if pharmacies are registered with the central drugs regulator, Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), they require licenses from state supervisors for sales and marketing. Online pharmacies fulfill orders from registered and licensed offline pharmacies. yet, it is a reality that these mediators are functioning without essential licenses, provoking the CDSCO and state regulators to ban their functions until regulations are in place.
Issues with e-pharmacies
Various Acts and Rules linked to drug regulation in India are the Drugs and Cosmetics Act of 1940, the Drugs Rules of 1945, Pharmacy Act 1948, Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisement) Act 1954, Indian Medical Act 1956, Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985, Code of Ethics Regulations 2002, Pharmacy Practice Regulations of 2015, the Medical Devices Rules of 2017, the New drugs and Clinical Trial Rules of 2019, and the Cosmetic Rules of 2019. However, the present regulations do not explicitly contend with e-pharmacies. Hence, there are no straightforward directives to regulate, control, and monitor e-pharmacies in India.
There are fears that e-pharmacies will stimulate self-medication or absurd use of medicines which is already a common practice in India. Prescriptions presented to e-pharmacies may be bogus, and it could be tough to prove their legitimacy. There are anxieties that scheduled drugs can be reordered and abused by customers leading to drug misuse and other felonious deeds. There are apprehensions over bogus or unlawful websites coming up, thus denting consumer welfare.
The evolution of e-pharmacies has given rise to discomfort among retail vendors that their business would be badly impacted, as they would not be capable to compete with the discounted pricing offered by online platforms.
Not a rational option
The severe necessity for doorstep delivery of drugs was felt during COVID-19. The year 2020 marked a turning point moment for the development of e-pharmacies as the Ministry of Home Affairs published orders for them to continue to operate. It saw approximately nine million households utilizing home delivery services during the lockdown. Outlawing e-pharmacies would be like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. The exigence for the online supply of drugs is escalating. There is a likelihood that few of these establishments will go underground if debarred because people are not going to discontinue ordering medicines online anytime soon. One cannot wish to absent the delivery of drugs online by intimidating to ban businesses instead of controlling the sector.
The draft e-pharmacy regulations which were initially planned to trim e-pharmacy trades into shape were proposed by the MoHFW in 2018. The regulations were concluded, public mentions were taken into consideration, and they were almost on the edge of being notified. However, the proposal was unexpectedly pushed into cold storage, after being referred to a group of ministers including Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh as the topic was considered delicate. It ran the risk of displeasing a significant vote bank of offline pharmacists.
Since then, many court orders including those from Bombay, Madras, Delhi, and Patna High Court have called for regulating e-pharmacies. The recent in the line is the 172nd Parliamentary Standing Committee report published in June 2022, which found it shocking that e-pharmacy rules had not been notified even after around five years of the draft being introduced.
As a final point, an absolute ban on raising e-pharmacies to the hellbox must be dodged. It goes against the government’s intention of erecting digital infrastructure as a significant pillar driving India’s long-term evolution stratagem. Besides, the potential of India’s e-pharmacy marketplace is bright and hopeful. It is anticipated to grow at an enviable rate because of rising internet connectivity, mobile phone penetration, government plans, and surging investments.
