Central government has rightly decided to make 100 more commonly-used medicines of day-to-day use being available for over-the-counter sale. But it should also ensure gimmick or irrational packing of medicines except for dose-wise administration.
Many drug-manufacturers pack even commonly used medicines like cough-lozenges in strips of eight, because consumers usually judge price of these per strip overlooking that just eight instead of usual ten lozenges are packed per strip. Otherwise also tablets are packed in packs like of fifteen etc. Central government should direct drug-manufacturers to pack all medicines compulsorily in packs of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, and 500 and thereafter in multiples of 1000 units unless exemption is sought from competent authority to pack medicines in some other units for dose-wise administration.
Many-a-times name of medicine is printed only once on a complete strip of tablets or capsules, thereby causing great confusion when the tablets or capsules under the printed name are consumed. Authorities should make it compulsory to print name of the medicine on complete strip over every tablet or capsule. Efforts should be made so as to print or emboss name of the medicine individually on each tablet or capsule.
Subhash Chandra Agrawal
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
