 "FICCI launches self-regulation code of conduct for e-pharmacy")
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) yesterday announced the launch of self-regulation code of conduct for the e-pharmacy sector.
Accessibility, affordability and lack of awareness are the major challenges for last mile access to medicines. These barriers could be effectively overcome by adopting technology, specifically the Internet, into the healthcare system. Over the last one year, e-pharmacy has come up as a significant channel to provide last mile access to medicines. This will most importantly benefit patients of chronic diseases, elderly patients and sick patients who are not in a condition to go out to find a pharmacy.
The e-pharmacy model provides tracking and traceability of medicines, addressing the problem of counterfeit medicines, consumption of drugs without prescription, tax loss and provides value added services for consumer empowerment in healthcare, which are well aligned with the government’s Digital India initiative, which aims to transform the country into a digitally empowered society. FICCI’s self-regulation code of conduct is an attempt by the industry to adhere to the highest professional standards and to have proper safeguards so as to ensure that consumer’s health and safety is not compromised.
Voicing his support to consumer friendly models, Dr Didar Singh, secretary general, FICCI, said, “India needs to move with the times and embrace new age models to stay ahead. Also FICCI has been at the forefront helping many sectors operate with a process of developing self-governance models, and this initiative is a step in the right direction to help enable this sector of the economy.”
According to Arvind Gupta, head of Digital India Foundation, India needs to embrace technology - in both offline and online models. “There is a great opportunity to take this ecosystem ahead by leveraging the India stack using the existing infrastructure of Aadhar and Digi-locker to maintain the repository of prescription, health records and monitor the dispensing of sensitive medicines. All pharmacies, online or offline, should check prescriptions on this locker,” he stated.
Welcoming the FICCI initiative, Bejon Mishra, consumer activist, commented, “There is no difference between e-pharmacy and offline pharmacy, and both should operate with compliance and maintain proper records and dispense with prescription. I congratulate the effort of the association to come up with progressive self-regulation framework. There should be mechanisms in place to make sure that this is adhered to.”
Pawan Kaul, co-chair of FICCI e-commerce committee, added, “By recognising and registering the legitimate e-pharmacies, government can easily address the challenges by maintaining sanctity of both IT Act and Drug and Cosmetic Act. This will bring effectiveness and efficiency in the entire ecosystem.”