Telangana: Price Violations at Medical Shops Worries Customers

Nizamabad/Kamareddy: Customers are worried over the bloated prices at which they purchase medicines at medicine shops which is way above the maximum retail price (MRP). Company-owned medical shops offer discounts of up to 20 per cent on medicines at their counters while medical shops attached to hospitals and independent medical shops do not give any discounts.

Some drug manufacturers print the highest MRP on medicines while they sell them at 80 per cent less prices at generic medical shops. In the absence of proper regulation, some medical shop owners are reluctant to give receipts for medicines, adding to the distress of customers.

There are 1,450 retail medicine shops in the Nizamabad district and 750 shops in the Kamareddy district. In addition to them, there are 195 wholesale shops in Nizamabad and 150 wholesale shops in Kamareddy supplying medicines to north Telangana districts and Karnataka and Maharashtra. Some medical shops also indiscriminately sell Schedule H1, H and X drugs.

A section of people habituated to sleeping pills, cough syrups and narcotic drugs approach medical shops for these drugs. Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Subhash Reddy, a customer, said medical shop owners, especially generic medical shops, create confusion over prices of medicines.

If a drug’s MRP is Rs 204, the chemist sells it for Rs 120, he said. If a generic medicine shop sells medicines at cheaper prices, why the difference between MRP and selling price, he questioned. Transparency is required in sales to avoid confusion among customers, he said.

The Drug Control Administration (DCA) officials are also unable to prevent illegal practices. D. Vijay, a medical retailer in Makloor Mandal, said people directly purchase medicines for normal health issues. Compared to corporate and hospital medical shops, independent shops are unable to survive in the field, he opined.

B. Pharma certificate holders lend their licenses to medical shop owners for annual ‘goodwill’ of Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000. It is an open secret in the market, said a senior medical shop owner.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, DCA assistant director N. Narsaiah said they registered five cases under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 in Nizamabad district for selling spurious medicines. Under Drugs and Magical Remedies Objectionable Advertisements (DMROA) Act, 1954, six cases in Nizamabad city and four cases in rural areas were registered, he explained.

Kamareddy drug inspector A. Raja Reddy said licenses of 40 medical shops were suspended for violating the norms in Kamareddy district.