The Maharashtra Food and Drug Authority (FDA) on Thursday issued notice to E-commerce platforms Amazon and Flipkart after it allegedly found that pregnancy termination kits and pills are available for sale on these platforms without prescription.
The Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 prohibits the online distribution of such medicines without any prescription, FDA said in a statement.
After the Maharashtra Food and Drug Authority (FDA) learnt that these aforementioned E-commerce companies were allowing the sale of such products through their websites, it placed orders for “medical termination of pregnancy” kits on Amazon, and the order was accepted by some suppliers based in Uttar Pradesh and Odisha, the authority alleged.
The same process was followed for Flipkart, only to find out that Flipkart too was indulging in the unscrupulous act.
“The MTP kit drugs were delivered by Gurunanak Enterprises, Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) and Choudhary Pharmaceuticals/Piramal Ltd. Korapur (Orissa) against the order. Online sale of MTP kit without doctor’s prescription leads to violation of provisions of Drug & Cosmetics Act, 1940”, the FDA statement stated.
Following this, the drug regulator issued notices to both E-commerce companies. The regulator also said that 34 e-commerce portals were “checked” to find out if they sold medications without requiring prescriptions. The step was taken after the FDA received a complaint from a drug dealer from Pune. The complaint said that e-commerce companies were selling abortion kits and pills illegally and that the online sale of abortion kits was happening without any restrictions.
In what appears, both Amazon and Flipkart have removed the pregnancy termination kits and pills from their respective platforms after the FDA’s notice.
