Shopping online was the best thing that she could think of at this crucial time. She ordered almost all the baby products on the internet and got them delivered home for a lesser price too.
While online shopping proved to be helpful for Anusha, her friend Saarika did not have a very pleasant experience shopping at an online pharmacy. She was looking for a weight loss pill on the internet and was directed to a website located offshore. She was billed an exorbitant amount after entering her credit card details on the website. It came as an added shock to her when the weight loss pill turned out to be fake. While shopping on the internet in India has proved to be a boon for customers like Anusha, doctors have mixed opinion on buying medicines online. While there are benefits, one should not overlook the risks involved, they say .
WHY BUY MEDICINES ONLINE?
Apart from price discounts and the comfort of shopping from home, people also buy medicines such as aphrodisiacs and benzodiazepines (medicines to treat insomnia and anxiety), out of their desire for privacy. And for those living in remote areas and consumers who are short of time and for whom reaching the pharmacy is difficult, ordering online has obvious advantages.
“If the same medicine is available at a lesser price online, then customers will buy it online than going to a pharmacist.Pricing is the key to online pharma players,“ says Dr RK Singhal, principal consultant & director, BLK Super Specialty Hospital, New Delhi.
RISKS AND CONCERNS
Illegal or unethical online pharmacies sometimes send outdated, counterfeit medications or substitutes. But doctors argue that this can happen at medical shops too. “We cannot be sure that the medicines sold in pharmacies are not fake. It's the same with online pharmacies too. It's not about how the medicine is sold, but about how the regulatory bodies have to behave,“ says Dr Arvind Kasaragod, director of medical services, Cloudnine Group of Hospitals, Bengaluru.
Other concerns include the location of these pharmacies. The internet has removed the boundaries between countries. The brand names may often cause confusion. They may be the same brands but with different medicines, or even lookalike drugs with different ingredients. Ultimately, the patient is at the receiving end of wrong medicines.
“Sometimes, medicines sold online without prescription may be counterfeit, have no active ingredients and may even contain harmful ingredients,“ says Dr Pranav Kumar, neurosurgeon, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi.
Experts say there is no proper technical infrastructure in place to monitor the sale of online drugs. Those who complain against online pharmacies say that they encourage self-medication, customers make illegal purchases of habit-forming drugs, prescriptions are not verified online and patients buy drugs without original prescriptions.