Chemists’ body raises concerns over platforms' tie-up to deliver medicines

Panaji: The All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) raised objections to the proposed collaboration between Swiggy Instamart and PharmEasy for ten-minute medicine deliveries via dark stores, citing potential legal standards violations and public health risks.

AIOCD’s Goa president J S Shinde said that this partnership could likely ignore essential standards like proper prescription checking and patient identification, risking public health.

The AIOCD added that the ultra-fast delivery model may increase the risk of expired or counterfeit medicines, affecting patient safety.

“In such a model, it is impossible to meet quality standards,” it said. AIOCD said that despite efforts by govt to tackle the threat of anti-microbial resistance (AMR), the unregulated operation of e-pharmacies may worsen this problem. “Such partnerships undermine the efforts to fight AMR,” it added.

The AIOCD urged govt to review these issues thoroughly and to implement measures to ensure safe, reliable healthcare for citizens.