Mumbai police order CCTV cameras at medical stores in a month to curb illegal drug sales
Mumbai police
has asked all pharmacy stores to install CCTV cameras in their premises within a month.
Owners of medical stores and chemist shops are unhappy with the move as they believe such measures will not help.
Scheduled drugs refer to medications regulated under the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945, on the basis of how they are manufactured, stored, distributed, and prescribed. For instance, Schedule H includes prescription drugs that cannot be sold without a doctor's prescription and Schedule X refers to prescription drugs that are highly addictive
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The directive, issued under Section 152 of the Indian Civil Security Code, 2023, by deputy commissioner of police (anti-narcotics cell) Navnath Dhawale, is based on intelligence inputs.
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and the Commission for Protection of Child Rights, New Delhi, too, had recently raised concerns about the sale of scheduled drugs and inhalants without valid prescriptions.
The Anti-Narcotics Cell and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found several medical stores in Mumbai sold habit-forming drugs without maintaining proper records.
According to the order, every medical shop in Mumbai and its suburban districts will have to install CCTV cameras at all entrances, exits, and sale counters in such a way that the faces of customers and transactions are recorded.
The cameras must have a minimum resolution of 2 megapixels, and footage must be stored for at least one month. Officials from the District Drug Control Authority and Child Welfare Police Officers can inspect CCTV footage.
Medical shop owners have been given a 30-day period to comply with the order. Senior officials said the initiative is part of a larger crackdown on the misuse of prescription drugs, often diverted into the narcotics trade.
Abay Pandey, president of the All Food and License Holders Foundation, told TOI: "Firstly, the police have no powers to check medical stores if there are not accompanied by FDA officials. Secondly, these CCTV cameras won't serve any purpose as the prescriptions and medicine strips are written in small fonts. How is the camera going to help them?"
Prasad Danave, president of Retail and Dispensing Chemist Association Mumbai, said, "How is the camera going to keep a tab on the medicines sold? What about the online sites that sell abortion pills to a 14-year-old girl? Is there any check on them?"
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