Puducherry cracks down on chemists flouting rules on sale of tuberculosis medicines

Hindustan Times

14 hours ago

New Delhi, The Puducherry administration has launched raids against private drug retailers flouting the ban on sale of anti-tuberculosis drugs in contravention of norms. Puducherry cracks down on chemists flouting rules on sale of tuberculosis medicines
The joint enforcement raids are being conducted by the State TB Cell in collaboration with the Department of Drugs Control.
The Puducherry administration in alignment with the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme implemented the ban on the sale of anti-TB drugs by private chemists, Dr S Govindarajan, Mission Director of National Health Mission , Puducherry, told PTI.
The move, initiated in 2017, followed directives from the Central TB Division, Union Health Ministry advising that anti-TB drugs should only be dispensed through government sources to ensure strict treatment adherence and minimise the risk of drug-resistant TB, he said.
"Despite the initial ban, instances of non-compliance by a few chemists prompted the State TB Cell, in coordination with the Department of Drugs Control, to launch targeted joint enforcement raids," he said.
These inspections aimed both at preventing unauthorised sales and to sensitise chemists regarding the public health implications of selling anti-TB drugs without notifying the State TB Officer , Dr C Venkatesh, STO, said.
As part of ongoing efforts, multiple awareness meetings were held with wholesalers, retailers, and pharmacists across Puducherry, Dr Govindrajan informed.
"They were instructed to stop dispensing anti-TB drugs to patients and instead report such cases using a standardised notification form," he said.
These reports enabled the STO office to track patients and ensure treatment completion, Dr Govindarajan stated.
"The druggists were again and again educated in a series of meeting that the selling of anti-TB drugs outside to TB patients lent to non-completion of full course of drug intake by the patient and the patient might become defaulter or the patient turned into Multi-Drug-Resistant TB case which was dreadful than the profit the druggist made from the sale," he said.
Over time, these measures have yielded notable success, Dr Venkatesh said.
"The sale of anti-TB drugs through private channels has significantly declined," he said.
Most chemists have voluntarily withdrawn from stocking TB medications due to low demand.
Additionally, private practitioners in the UT were sensitised and are now actively reporting TB cases to the STO, thus bringing more patients under the government-supported treatment regimen, Dr Venkatesh said.
The State TB Cell has established three dedicated teams to conduct evening visits to private clinics for one-on-one discussions with practitioners, emphasising the importance of notifying TB cases and supporting treatment completion.
"So far, eight joint raids have been conducted in the last two months, and prosecution was initiated against a chemist found violating the directives," Dr Venkatesh said.
These sustained efforts have ensured that all TB patients in Puducherry are now notified under the programme and are receiving free anti-TB drugs from government sources, with continuous monitoring to ensure full treatment adherence.
The initiative underscores the administration's commitment to preventing the emergence of Multi-Drug-Resistant TB , a serious threat linked to poor treatment compliance and unregulated drug availability, Dr Venkatesh added.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.