Govt portal to keep tabs on antibiotics sales

Identity of doctors prescribing any medicine and patients' profiles must be part of the database

Aiming to curb arbitrary consumption of antibiotics, the health ministry and the central drugs regulator are developing an online platform, where all chemists and druggists will have to register. 

Stockists and retailers will also be required to submit data on the stock they procure. Stocks returned to the manufacturer would also be updated on the centralised platform. Drug manufacturers will have to register themselves and update sales of drugs to distributors and wholesalers, with expiry dates. 

With anti-microbial resistance on the rise, the government is working on a track-and-trace mechanism through the centralised portal, according to a health ministry notice to stakeholders,