[sbraj]

There are certain types of tablets which are sold in glass bottles (like the iron supplement). I can understand if the medical shop asks to buy that entire bottle instead of loose tablets.

But prescription medicines being asked to be bought in bulk ... that is unethical. No wonder the shop fellow did not understand about social responsibility.

These big franchises, they are out there to mint money. Any day I would be more comfortable with the neighborhood small time medical shop than these ones.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by sbraj

But prescription medicines being asked to be bought in bulk ... that is unethical. No wonder the shop fellow did not understand about social responsibility.

How can one 10 tablet strip be considered as bulk?

Originally Posted by sbraj

These big franchises, they are out there to mint money. Any day I would be more comfortable with the neighborhood small time medical shop than these ones.

Has the small time medical shop setup his shop for some reason other than making money?

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by carboy

1]How can one 10 tablet strip be considered as bulk?

2]Has the small time medical shop setup his shop for some reason other than making money?

1]Answer to first question.

Yes, sometimes 10 tablet strip is also bulk.

Example---.
To nullify the unwanted pregnancy within time, there is one ayurvedic medicine which come in 10 tab strip.
Normally, doctor suggest to take one tab each for three days.
In this case, 10 tab strip is bulk. isn't it?
[ my knowledge due to family medical shop].

2]Every business establishment is for making profit with legal and ethical way.

[SILVERWOOD]

Originally Posted by SinghBHP

2 medicines on the prescriptions was prescribed as once a day for 5 days so he was supposed to give me 5 each for 5 days. However to my surprise he said that you will have to buy a complete strip of 10 Tablets

Dear SinghBHP,

The chemist should always adhere to the prescriptions.No way he could tell you this. There are few harmonal preparations like Oral Contraceptive Pills, thyriod etc which cannot be sold loose.

You could write a letter to the drug inspector and DCGI. Since you are based at Delhi, you have better access to DCGI.I will PM you the details of the drug inspector of Delhi.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

1]Answer to first question.
Yes, sometimes 10 tablet strip is also bulk.

Example---.
To nullify the pregnancy within time, there is one ayurvedic tablet which come in 10 tab strip. normally, doctor suggest to take one tab each for three days.
in this case, 10 tab strip is bulk. isn't it?

If the only usage of that tablet is 3 tablets during a course, the company should make a strip which contains just 3 tablets. For eg. in India, Azithromycin 500 is given as a course of 1 tablet per day for 3 days. Most Azithromycin strips come with just 3 tablets to the strip.

Ofloxacin-Ornidazole combo antibiotics are usually prescribed for 3 days, 2 tablets per day. So these strips typically come with 6 tablets.

I do not think it's the responsibility of the medical shop to cut up strips. If they do, well & good - if they don't, go to another shop which does.

2]Every business establishment is for making profit with legal and ethical way.

The OP is situated in Delhi. I may be mistaken, but I am not sure if there is any law in Delhi which says that not cutting up strips is illegal or unethical.

FDA-Maharashtra implemented this rule for Maharashtra & even in Maharashtra, both the medical shop lobby & the pharmaceutical lobby is fighting against this.

Consider some medication which is comes in tiny little strips - take for eg. Glusens-1. The strip is pretty small. If a customer asks for 1 strip, how are you going to ensure that in that cut up one tablet, you will have the brand name, the chemical name, the expiry date, the manufacturing date, the batch number etc. The pharma company would need to enlist the help of those guys who write your name on a rice granule to put all this info at 10 places in a strip. Plus the customer will need to a magnifying glass to read it.

Also consider one more thing - some prescription medication also come in liquid form - again take the example of Azithromycin - it also comes in liquid form. If you are doctor asks you to take 3 tsp per day for 3 days, then everyday, the patient would have to go to the medical shop with a spoon to get his daily dose.

[PatienceWins]

Even local medical shops hesitate to sell medicines loose, depending on the medicine.

Branded ones give an expression as if you are an alien.

I do not know the rule, but a lot of medicine gets wasted because of this practice where as there are many people who cannot afford healthcare. Atleast, there should be some mechanism not to waste the medicine.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by carboy

1]If the only usage of that tablet is 3 tablets during a course, the company should make a strip which contains just 3 tablets.
2]I do not think it's the responsibility of the medical shop to cut up strips. If they do, well & good - if they don't, go to another shop which does.
3] If you are doctor asks you to take 3 tsp per day for 3 days, then everyday, the patient would have to go to the medical shop with a spoon to get his daily dose.

1] This is solution to the problem and many companies now a days are following this practice.
2] If companies are not packing the medicine as per normal prescribed course by doctor, then, above law, its social and moral responsibility of medical shop to give the medicine to patient by cutting the strip.
3] Normally, the companies pack the liquid medicine such way that the medicine will last for normal prescribed course.

And the day is not arrived yet for poor Indian patients to go to medical shop with spoon to get his/her medical dose because some of medical shop owner's heart is big enough to give the medicine to poor man on credit.

[Spitfire]

@carboy: This is my personal opinion only. So you can roast me if you want.

But watching some of your posts on here and on the alternate medicine thread and the other thread where some of the doctor members give suggestions, your reactions to these topics are very ill-informed.

I am assuming you are neither a doctor nor a pharmaceuticallly qualified person. Most of your knowledge comes from reading on google or reading books. I agree this is good but it does not make you an authority on it. Some of your posts can give the wrong message out to the people reading them. This can be very dangerous.

Hope you take the above with the right attitude. As some of your posts get me worried.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

1] This is solution to the problem and many companies now a days are following this practice.

Make a rule making the companies adhere to this, rather than making the
pharmacist cut up his strips.

But again, a problem is that dosage is not typical. The same medicine may be prescribed for 3 days or 5 days or 7 days. In the end, you will have medicines being sold in single dose packets like lozenges.

Or follow something like what most of the US I have seen do. Most prescription medicines are ordered in the bulk by pharmacies - when a patient comes with a prescription, take out as many tablets as prescribed, put it into a small plastic container & give it to the patient. An ad-hoc printed out sticker with all the details of the medicine is stuck on to the platic container. This would however require a really good computerised inventory system to exist at the pharmacist so that he can track the different batches of the same medication he recieves from his suppliers.

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

2] If companies are not packing the medicine as per normal prescribed course by doctor, then, above law, its social and moral responsibility of medical shop to give the medicine to patient by cutting the strip.

What about the brand name, chemical name, batch number, manufacturing date, expiry date printing - do you think it's feasible to print it in on each & every tablet cover?

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

3] Normally, the companies pack the liquid medicine such way that the medicine will last for normal prescribed course.

I haven't seen this. Almost every liquid medication I have purchased has half a bottle still left over, even if I buy the smallest bottle.

Originally Posted by Spitfire

I am assuming you are neither a doctor nor a pharmaceuticallly qualified person. Most of your knowledge comes from reading on google or reading books. I agree this is good but it does not make you an authority on it. Some of your posts can give the wrong message out to the people reading them. This can be very dangerous.

What exactly did I say on this thread which would require me to be a doctor or a pharmacist? Or could be dangerous?

[Spitfire]

Originally Posted by carboy

What exactly did I say on this thread which would require me to be a doctor or a pharmacist? Or could be dangerous?

The point is lost. Ignore my comments.

[carboy]

Smaller pill packs and strips may soon be available in Indian drug stores | DWS Pill Scribe

[JustCause]

I think the system followed abroad & some of my trusted clinics is better. You get a prescription, you go to the chemist & he gives the said pills in a small cylindrical medicine bottle with the dosage & patient name printed & stuck to the outside. This ensures proper dosage & removes the hassle of tablet foils & cutting altogether.



People here talk about government, well, it is already occupied with its own share of problems & has no time to listen to your personal rantings. There is a CGHS chemist in Janakpuri, A-1 Block Market by the name of <LALxxxx>, he sells fake drugs & robs poor folks in your face. I had written a letter to the Police Commissioner, the drug department officials & even demanded termination of his licence. All I got in replies was that we'll look into the matter & He is still there since the last 15 years & even renewed his license as a certified chemist. I have repeatedly written letters to anyone who has any relation to the construction of a bus stop near my colony where buses used to *unofficially* stop there & in the hurry to get on, someone or the other got injured. I wrote letters in the period of 1983-1990 & even in 2010, the only change I observe is a small, tattered board on a lampost which mentions the bus route numbers in a very faded fashion. The acknowledgments could still be there, dusty & dilapidated in the attic, written by hand, which made me very hopeful then.

Yes, I'm the same person who had run from pillar to post in the Janakpuri RTO & was met with stiff resistance from anyone who came to know I was in there to get a license made for his son & I *couldn't have done* anything but to *buy* a License for him.

Choose the shop which suits you best, because, at least you have a choice there.

My apologies for veering off-topic & being frank.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by carboy

1]Make a rule making the companies adhere to this, rather than making the pharmacist cut up his strips.

2]But again, a problem is that dosage is not typical. The same medicine may be prescribed for 3 days or 5 days or 7 days. In the end, you will have medicines being sold in single dose packets like lozenges.

3]Or follow something like what most of the US I have seen do. Most prescription medicines are ordered in the bulk by pharmacies - when a patient comes with a prescription, take out as many tablets as prescribed, put it into a small plastic container & give it to the patient. An ad-hoc printed out sticker with all the details of the medicine is stuck on to the platic container. This would however require a really good computerised inventory system to exist at the pharmacist so that he can track the different batches of the same medication he recieves from his suppliers.

4]What about the brand name, chemical name, batch number, manufacturing date, expiry date printing - do you think it's feasible to print it in on each & every tablet cover?


5]I haven't seen this. Almost every liquid medication I have purchased has half a bottle still left over, even if I buy the smallest bottle.

your statement no 2 is the reason why companies are hesitant to adhere your statement no 1.

bold line in your statement no 3 contains the answer to your statement no4.
this is the practice followed by medical shop not for consumers but for himself.
he stores the medicine in plastic box on which all necessary information is available.
for consumers, the bill is enough on which all details are printed or written like batch no, expiry date, manufacturer, patient name and doctor name.

@your statement no5, it is possible that you may not have consumed the prescribed course due to early recovery!!!!

@carboy--it should be easier to tally if the pharmacist has sold exactly the same number of drugs he has sold as he has recieved from the manufacturer. In India, this would be far more difficult.

it may be difficult but not impossible.
sometimes, drug administration ask the shop owner to furnish the sell/purchase details of particular batch.

@carboy
are you on consumers side or mal practice side?

[carboy]

Originally Posted by JustCause

I think the system followed abroad & some of my trusted clinics is better. You get a prescription, you go to the chemist & he gives the said pills in a small cylindrical medicine bottle with the dosage & patient name printed & stuck to the outside. This ensures proper dosage & removes the hassle of tablet foils & cutting altogether.

I also mentioned this in my post above, but this will make fake drug issue even more difficult to detect. Abroad, it's probably easier - they have a system in place because each drug dispensed is linked to the prescription number & the manufacturing batch number etc. So it should be easier to tally if the pharmacist has sold exactly the same number of drugs he has sold as he has recieved from the manufacturer. In India, this would be far more difficult.

Originally Posted by JustCause

Choose the shop which suits you best, because, at least you have a choice there.

Fully agree with this.

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

your statement no 2 is the reason why companies are hesitant to adhere your statement no 1.
bold line in your statement no 3 contains the answer to your statement no4.
this is the practice followed by medical shop not for consumers but for himself. he stores the medicine in plastic box on which all necessary information is available.

This info is neccessary for both the patient & the chemist - not just for the chemist.

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

@your statement no5, it is possible that you may not have consumed the prescribed course due to early recovery!!!!

I never do this except for pain killers. Stopping something like a course of antibiotics in the middle just because you are feeling better is dangerous. The antibiotic would have killed 90% of the bacteria, so you are feeling better, but the 10% of the bacteria which have survived now develop resistance to the antibiotic. Next time the same antibiotic wouldn't work on them at all.

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

@spitfire,
are you on consumers side or mal practice side?

Have we proved any malpractise yet?

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by carboy

1]This info is neccessary for both the patient & the chemist - not just for the chemist.
2]Have we proved any malpractise yet?

1] read my full statement.

2] do we need judgement by court to prove it?
if yes, then wait for the judgement by court if any consumer go to court.
if no, then i assume that each one has own view. some say its malpractice and some say opposite, depend upon thinking of the person.

I will not post anything on this thread as i had already posted my views here.
Its good to know different views/attitude on same subject. Its like

I follow my sign, read it.