Govt seeks to address issue of chemists forcing consumers to buy entire strip of tablets

New Delhi: Amid complaints about chemists insisting customers on buying entire strip of tablets or capsules, the Centre is making efforts to find some solution to protect the consumer interest and is holding consultations with the pharma industry.

The forced buying of a full strip of medicine not only leads to medical wastage but also put unnecessary financial burden on customers.

The Department of Consumer Affairs has held the first round of consultation with the senior representatives of pharma and medical devices industry, sources said. In the meeting, the top officials of the Drug Controller General of India were also present.

The drug control authorities also need to take a close look at the way crucial information is printed on medicine strips because chemists also point out that on some strips, the brand name and the date of manufacture and expiry are printed in such a way that if they try to retain the portion containing the date and sell the other part, then they lose the name.

Besides, on most strips, the date of manufacture and expiry are printed only on one side and this also leads to problems as only one party can keep the portion that has this information, they say. Surely, these are small matters that can easily be sorted out by repeating the information on the strip?