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The Karnataka Registered Pharmacists Association (KRPA) has stressed that consumers must make the purchase of quality medicines their top priority, emphasizing the importance of safety, efficacy, and reliability in pharmaceutical products. The association urged consumers to purchase medicines only from authorized sources and to remain vigilant about the quality and authenticity of the products they use.
This follows after the recent incident involving a facility supplying counterfeit medicines in Bengaluru which the Association has noted is truly a matter of grave concern.
Patients and the general public have become apprehensive. In this context, it is our collective responsibility to ensure that people do not lose their trust and confidence in pharmacists and medicine retailers, Dr Kaushik Devaraju, president, KRPA told Pharmabiz.
It is here the role of traditional medicine retailers cannot be underestimated. We have been serving customers or patients in this field for many years. Our business is carried out in accordance with the regulatory system and guidelines of the Food Safety and Drug Administration, ensuring that there is no violation of the laws under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, he added.
There is a regulated medicine supply chain through which medicines manufactured by pharmaceutical companies reach patients. Throughout this supply process, there is no scope for legal irregularities. We are licensed and registered pharmacists. The drug inspectors periodically inspect our pharmacy stores, randomly pick up certain medicines and send them to laboratories to verify the quality. If any medicine is of substandard quality, it is listed on the Not-of-Standard Quality (NSQ) portal and eventually withdrawn from the market, he said.
In this regard, both the Karnataka FSDA and retail medicine traders are taking every possible precaution and are carrying out their responsibilities with the highest level of commitment to ensure the distribution of quality medicines, Dr Desai said.
In recent times, the increasing practice of consumers purchasing medicines through online portals is a genuinely worrying development. Online medicine sales conducted without adequate transparency can involve violations of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, and many processes within such systems may lack the level of transparency and accountability available in the regulated traditional supply chain.
If consumers continue purchasing medicines through online portals without proper verification, they may have to pay a heavy price in the future in terms of their health and well-being, he noted.
Consumers should not be swayed by attractive discounts, promotional schemes, or other short-term incentives when purchasing medicines. Instead, they should prioritize the quality, safety, and reliability of the medicines they buy.
Supporting trusted traditional retail medicine traders is equally important, particularly those who have established credibility through consistent service and developed strong personal relationships with their customers. Such relationships extend beyond simple commercial transactions and are built on trust, familiarity, and a genuine commitment to customers’ well-being, said Dr Kaushik.
Also, some pharmacy retailers have been offering deep discounts to attract customers. This trend should not become the beginning of an unhealthy practice in the medicine trade. It should be noted that traders who offer excessively large discounts could, in the long run, become a threat to this service sector. Hence, there is a need to be alert and reject traders offering unhealthy and unreasonable discounts, while giving priority to purchasing quality medicines, said Dr Kaushik.
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