Govt May Scrap Doorstep Medicine Delivery Allowed During Covid, Says MoS Anupriya Patel

The move follows a formal representation from the All-India Organization of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD), which demanded that the government revoke the provision.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is reviewing whether to discontinue the doorstep delivery of medicines, a Covid-era policy that allowed e-pharmacies to deliver drugs directly to patients’ homes.

Minister of State (MoS) Anupriya Patel confirmed this in a written reply to a Parliament question raised by BJP MP from Karnataka, Jaggesh.

The move follows a formal representation from the All-India Organization of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD), which demanded that the government revoke the provision. AIOCD has alleged widespread misuse of the policy and a spike in unauthorized sales of habit-forming and psychotropic drugs through online platforms.

“In the absence of final regulation, e-pharmacy platforms continue to sell habit-forming and psychotropic drugs without prescription,” the minister quoted the representative as stating. “The medicines are sold without any quality assurance or physical verification,” it further warned.

The representation specifically asked whether the government intends to withdraw its earlier notification or bring in tighter regulation.

The doorstep delivery of medicines was permitted by the health ministry in 2020 to support public access to essential drugs during the nationwide lockdown. However, with pandemic restrictions lifted, traditional chemists argue that the policy continues to give undue advantage to e-pharmacies at the cost of regulatory oversight.

India’s apex drug advisory body, the Drug Technical Advisory Board (DTAB), is currently examining whether the policy should remain in force.

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