“ India needs to move with the times and embrace new age models to stay ahead , as long as they operate within the framework of the law . FICCI has undertaken such an initiative to come out with a whitepaper for the industry at the right time as the Government is working towards setting up the guidelines for the sector this would definitely act as a facilitator for the same ." -- Dr Eswara Reddy , Asst Drugs Controller General of India
Had we adopted digital technology 3-4 years back , then the 1.3 percent of GDP we spend on healthcare would have been equivalent to spending 2 percent in effectiveness ’’. Mr Aggarwal further stressed that prescription abuse could be addressed by linking the Aadhar cards while uploading the scanned copy of the prescription to the ePharmacy , which would increase the convenience for the customers and ensure regulatory oversight .
Experts bat for new model of medical prescription
From the regulatory perspective , Dr Eswara Reddy voiced his support of consumer friendly models and mentioned that India needs to move with the times and embrace new age models to stay ahead , as long as they operate within the framework of the law . Dr Reddy added ’’ FICCI has taken undertaken such an initiative to come out with a whitepaper for the industry at the right time as the Government is working towards setting up the guidelines for the sector the whitepaper would definitely act as a facilitator for the same .”
As of now , the Drugs and Cosmetics Act deals with medicine sales , with no distinction whether the sale is done online or offline . The report by FICCI on ePharmacy is favourable with some safeguards built in . “ Almost all stakeholders were consulted and we are going to seek further comments once the draft report is prepared in a few days all except one association are in favour of ePharmacy , and we are moving ahead to bring enabling legal frameworks ,” reveals Dr Reddy .
The experts say that the adoption of key global best practices like having a registry of ePharmacies , and mandating ePharmacies to display the logo on their website , would be enough to enable safeguards . A negative list of medicines that may be sensitive , such as narcotics is also being proposed .
eHealth is a core pillar of the digital India program and within the ambit of eHealth , eAccess to medicines had to be a key aspect of the eHealth program , opines Mr Arvind Gupta , Head of Digital India Foundation . At the FICCI ’ S event , he also spoke of the need to come with a holistic eHealth roadmap across all dimensions of healthcare .
Dr Manisha Shridhar , Technical Officer ( Intellectual Property Rights and Trade & Health ), WHO-Regional Office for South- East Asia quoted that ” the idea of WHO is to make the ePharmacies of the country more and more responsible , She added ‘’ I ’ m sure that the industry is driven by selfregulation and would take into account the objectives of each of the regulators ’’. She stressed on the need of having data privacy and solutions towards advertising issues towards which the industry is rigorously working for .
From a doctor ’ s perspective , Dr ( Prof ) A K Aggarwal mentioned that it is most important that the
“ eHealth is a core pillar of the digital India program and within the ambit of eHealth , eAccess to medicines had to be a key aspect of the eHealth program . There is the need to come with a holistic eHealth roadmap across all dimensions of healthcare ." -- Mr Arvind Gupta , Head of Digital India Foundation
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