Hyderabad: In a major enforcement drive, the Drugs Control Administration (DCA), Telangana, on Wednesday, July 16, conducted statewide inspections targeting medical shops selling abortion kits illegally.
As a result, the Telangana DCA found violations in 149 medical shops, and all erring establishments received show cause notices.
The raids were against the illegal sale of Schedule H abortifacient medicines, Mifepristone and Misoprostol tablets, utilised for medical termination of pregnancy. They are highly regulated and supposed to be sold on prescription only by a Registered Medical Practitioner (RMP).
Multiple violations were found at these medical shops, according to Telangana DCA Director General Shahnawaz Qasim, like:
- Sale without a prescription from a registered physician
- Distributing drugs without the license of a registered chemist or pharmacist
- No documents issued for sale-purchase
- Failure to maintain and present sales-purchase records
- Poor maintenance of prescription drug registers
- Inconsistencies in document preparation and record-keeping.
“These violations are of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, and rules framed thereunder,” Qasim said, adding that strict action will be taken against the pharmacies involved.
The Telangana DCA stressed that abortion kits sold at the shops should be used under strict medical supervision only after clinical assessment and ultrasound. Unsupervised use of these medicines can result in life-threatening complications like profuse bleeding and, in ectopic pregnancies, life-threatening emergencies.
The public has been requested to refrain from over-the-counter buying of such drugs and report offences by dialling the DCA’s toll-free number 1800-599-6969 (10:30 am to 5:00 pm, working days).
