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The Bangalore District Chemists & Druggists Association has recently sought clarification from the Drugs Controller General of India and the Karnataka drugs control department whether the Drugs and Cosmetics Act permits the pharmacists to cut the medicine strips as per the needs of the patients. For lakhs of pharmacists spread across the country, strip cutting of medicines has been a major issue which has been evading a lasting solution. The unit pack strip of tablets and capsules of several medicines are different. These could be 3, 5, 7, 10, 14, 15, 20 and 30 tablets or capsules. For instance, Azithromycin which comes in a pack of five and the medical practitioner prescribes six or seven tablets to the patient. For the chemist when he dispenses the drug, he needs to cut and the remaining medicine cannot be sold. It is under this background, the Bangalore District Chemists & Druggists Association has recently sought clarification from the drug control department whether the Drugs and Cosmetics Act permits the pharmacists to cut strips of medicines. In the absence of clear-cut provisions in the Drugs and Cosmetics Act on strip cutting, arguments and counter-arguments have long been flying thick and fast for and against the practice of cutting of strips by pharmacists. It is a fact that there is a lot of confusion on the issue amongst the pharmacist community as well as amongst regulatory officials. As there is no clear-cut provision in the law whether strip cutting is allowed or not, regulatory officials have different views on the matter. While some regulatory authorities say that strips must be cut if a patient desires, or doctor prescribes so, pharmacists argue that the Section 65 being quoted by the drug authorities to make strip cutting compulsory is irrelevant today as it was formulated much before strips actually came into existence in the country.
Obviously, strip cutting is a serious problem, which neither the lawmakers, nor the drug officials, nor the pharmaceutical industry, nor even the doctors can understand well. It is finally the customers and the retail pharmacists who have to face the brunt of losses, risk of consuming wrong or expired medicines, as well as conflicts with each other. As the debate on the issue is still going on, the fact remains that strip cutting is not a desirable practice as that can lead to sale of expired drugs to unsuspecting and illiterate customers. Given the fact that a sizeable percentage of our populace is still illiterate, strip cutting can actually help unethical practices to flourish in the country. It is obvious that when the strips are cut, the cut portion of the drug may not contain the details about expiry date, manufacturing date, batch number and even the name of the drug. It is a fact that almost every day, one or the other product strip size is increased or changed by the manufacturers, including the reputed ones. From 6 to 10 to 15 to 30, some strip sizes are now of 30, 40 & even 50. Such huge sizes of strips are certainly creating a chaotic situation. This increases the likelihood of cutting a strip. Otherwise, the consumers will have to shell out money for the entire strip which is not actually needed for them. The chemists & druggists associations in the country have long been asking the drug authorities as well as the drug manufacturers to make small packs of drugs so as to enable the retailers to avoid strip cutting. But, all their pleas have so far fallen on the deaf ears. The drug authorities and the manufacturers should consider it as a serious issue and resolve it to the satisfaction of one and all.
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