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Stating that the discount boards put up by the chemists on medical shops are intended to mislead medicine customers, the Haryana Drug Dealers Association (HDDA) has urged the state pharmacy council (HSPC) to restrain the registered pharmacists working in the discount pharmacies for violating provisions of the Pharmacy Act and Pharmacy Practice Regulations (PPR).
The association says that discount offers by retail chemists lead to malpractices in pharmaceutical trade as the DPCO gives only 16 percent margin to them. When the margin to the retailers is only 16 percent, how can they give a discount of 20 to 60 per cent to the customers on all drugs, HDDA asks.
HDDA has informed the pharmacy council that the registered pharmacists in the medical shops should be held responsible for this unethical trade practices which compromise on drug quality. A pharmacist is not supposed to support unfair activities that compromise on medicines’ quality. The council can take action against both the medical shop owner and the pharmacist with cancellation of registration of pharmacists and recommendation to the licensing authorities to cancel sale licences.
According to the drug dealers’ association, the state pharmacy council should appoint Pharmacy Inspectors in all districts to inspect the community pharmacies and monitor compliance of provisions of Pharmacy Practice Regulations 2015 and the Pharmacy Act. Display of discount boards before medical shops is also against the provisions of Pharmacy Act. The council is bound to protect the Pharmacy Act and the PPR.
Speaking to Pharmabiz, the president of the HDDA, Satish Vijj, said his association has given strict instructions to their members for not putting up banners or using pamphlets offering discount deals. “In all our meetings we speak against discount boards, strict instructions have been given to each unit not to put up any kind of banners. Our profit is the margin we get from the sale of the medicines that we cannot reduce in the form of discounts. However, we are aware that there are a lot of shops, some of them are members of HDDA, displaying banners to attract customers,” he told Pharmabiz.
Since the pharmacy council office-bearers are taking a distance from media, Pharmabiz contacted the state drug controller (SDC), who is an ex-officio member to the SPC, for his response in this serious matter.
Dr M N Taneja, the state drug controller, said he is discussing the matter with other state drug control authorities who have taken action against display of discount banners before medical shops. According to him, the drugs and cosmetics act allows him to initiate action against a trader if he sells a drug at higher prices than the MRPs. The act does not allow them to take action against the shops who offer discounts. However, the discounts are to attract the customers and such business practice is against ethical pharmaceutical trade, he will review the matter next week. He is in touch with Maharashtra, Manipur, Kerala and Karnataka DCs who issued notices to the retailers asking them to refrain from putting up discount boards.
Satish Vijj said, in Haryana the wholesalers are also giving discounts to develop their trade. The retailers get 4 to 5 per cent discounts on all medicines they purchase from the wholesalers. Vijj has complained this with the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) president JS Shinde who directed the Delhi branch of the national body to intervene into the matter. Accordingly, the Delhi chemists and druggists association filed a case with the local court and won the case. The court also felt this display of discount boards is an unethical trade practice which has to be stopped, he said.
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