Are Over the Counter medicines legal in India ?

Question

I had an argument with one of my collegues regarding the issue.. and he insisted that under indian law this is illegal, even if it is a Common cure drug like Crocin/Paracetamol..

Answer 1

He is mistaken. Over the counter medications are legal in India. Although it is illegal to sell prescription drugs without a prescription, most pharmacists in India would sell antibiotics and antidepressants without a prescription. You cannot get hold of opioids that easily though.

Answer 2

"Over the counter (OTC)" means anyone can legally buy them from a pharmacy, no prescription needed. Examples are aspirin, paracetamol, milk of magnesia, etc.

"Rx medication" means a doctor has to prescribe it. Examples are blood pressure medicine, morphine painkillers. These are illegal to sell "over the counter".

Grey area is antibiotics. These should be "Rx medication" although people buy them OTC illegally all the time because pharmacies are not tightly regulated. No wonder so many kinds of drug-resistant bacteria originate in Asia. People self-medicate themselves with OTC antibiotics, do not adhere to the dose or indication, thus giving rise to bacteria that are resistant to many of the standard antibiotics.

Drugs and Cosmetics Act
http://www.cdsco.nic.in/

Answer 3

Some drugs can be sold by a pharmacist in a medical shop without the prescription from a doctor. That`s legal. NSAID are one example.

Answer 4

Unfortunately, there is no system to prevent the sale of medicines without prescriptions. Some chemist shops are particular but they are too few.

Answer 5

It is not good to issue Medicines from med shop counter ... the customer may not get the good drug for his complaint. and may get reaction and his health worsened
in India it is illegal... but no one is so far punished