Insist on prescription

BANGALORE: Karnataka State Pharmacy Council (KSPC) on Sunday issued a few new rules for medical stores and pharmacies and reiterated that they should not sell medicines unless the customer has a prescription slip.On the occasion of International Day Against Drug Abuse, KSPC sent notifications to all medical stores and pharmacies in the state. KSPC President D A Gundu Rao told Express that as per the new rule, all pharmacies were required to submit their email address and phone numbers to KSPC.Rao said the pharmacies had again been asked not to sell medicines that are misused to get intoxicated unless the customer has a prescription from doctor and it bears the doctor's signature and the clinic's seal. He pointed out that there were more than 8,000 medical stores in Bangalore alone and availing those medicines was easy.He said KSPC was aware that adolescents use these medicines, which are cheap, to get high. In this backdrop, he added, new rules were issued and strict compliance of existing ones was demanded.Further, Rao said there should be more deaddiction centres in all the cities and a special campaign should be launched against those who sell tobacco products within 100 yards of educational institutions.He pointed out that it was observed that the sale of such medicines was high near schools and colleges and thus medical staff had been asked to keep an eye on those who buy these items.