The Hindu Business Line : Mandatory training soon for medical shop personnel

New Delhi May 25 When it comes to buying medicines, more often than not, the consumer is at the receiving end. If a prescription does not match availability or the chemist has not been able to decipher the doctor's handwriting, the buyer lands up with not what the doctor had prescribed, but what the counter salesman doles out. And, often it is the wrong drug.

But there may soon be an end to this. The Ministry of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, the nodal Ministry for the pharmaceuticals industry, has mooted a proposal for short-term training programme for persons manning sales counters of retail medical shops.

There are around nine lakh medical shops across the country and salespersons in these shops rarely have basic knowledge on first-aid or medicine. Particularly in rural and semi-urban areas, they commit mistakes that are totally unintended.

"We have found that very often patients who do not know English are completely dependent on them and eventually become victims of unintended mistakes. We have suggested a three-month mandatory training for personnel in chemist shops, the Minister for Chemicals and Petrochemicals," Mr Ram Vilas Paswan told Business Line.

"We would be taking the proposal to the Cabinet within the next few weeks. This would ensure that people get the right medicine," he said.

Though the modalities of the training are yet to be worked out, the Ministry is mulling with the idea of training being provided by the Government as well as the drug companies.

"The industry should be able to provide basic training in this area and companies can have their own certification system. The Government will also have its own programme. The basic objective is to equip salespersons with basic knowledge and help them realise that mistakes could be a life and death question for the ordinary man," the Minister said.

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