It is a common practice to buy medicines without prescriptions in India. This is going to change now as the center has issued a legal framework and the penalties on the sale of antibiotics and high risk drugs without a prescription. The commonly used medicines for pain relief and cold or flu are available over the counter (OTC) despite being ‘prescription only’. There will now be a specific OTC list for sale of these prescription drugs.
A legal regulatory framework to avoid misuse of high risk drugs, especially antibiotics is being set by the Centre. Medicines for flu, cold and pain relief like Paracetamol, Ibuprofen and analgesics may soon be available OTC without prescription. Once the list is made by the Centre, differentiating this the Government plans in making it mandatory for companies to label drugs as OTC while packing it so that it is easier for customers to distinguish.
“In the absence of a legal framework, chemists are selling some commonly used ‘prescription-only’ drugs like Paracetamol or those for cold and cough over the counter. Besides, some crucial drugs, mainly high end antibiotics, are also getting pushed as OTC medicines,” an official said in regard to this matter. The haphazard usage of antibiotics without prescriptions is making people immune to the effects of drugs and creating problems in managing diseases. Hence the government has made it mandatory that now there be a strict difference between prescription only and OTC’s.
As of now, there is no legal recognition to OTC and prescription only drugs in India. All the drugs that are not included in prescription only are sold over the counter and are legally considered OTC by the pharmacists. But several prescription only medicines, that are listed in Schedules H and X of the Drug and Cosmetics Rules, are easily available OTC without a doctor’s prescription. The Centre is now trying to address this loophole by drawing a legal framework for OTC medicines.
