Digital Health Platform (DHP) welcomes Govt. of India's move on e-pharmacy draft rules and has decided to oppose the nation-wide strike called by chemists on September 28, 2018 announced by the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD), an association of chemists involved in sale and distribution of medicines across India.

E-pharmacies will empower consumers and provide them multiple options to help them make an informed choice when buying their medicines. It will enable consumers to order medicines in a convenient manner from mobile phones or personal computers It will improve affordability, accessibility and traceability of medicines.

Speaking about the draft rules Prashant Tandon, CEO, 1mg, said, "E-pharmacy is not a privilege, but rather a necessity for the retail pharmacy sector in India to address the challenges of affordability, accessibility and transparency."

" We support the e-pharmacy draft rule; it improves affordability and accessibility of medicines for the consumers. Also moving towards technology-based disease management is key," said Dharmil Sheth, Founder, PharmEasy. DHP believes that vested interests in the pharmacy retail and distribution sector are opposing the e-pharmacy model and creating misunderstanding for e-pharmacy model.

DHP emphasises that the e-pharmacy model will enable existing pharmacies to start online operations and serve a broader set of customers. It can also lead to a network of pharmacies integrating into one platform and accessing a broader customer base while ensuring that the inventory is consolidated.

This would reduce working capital requirements, remove wastage from system and increase margins. In short, it will facilitate better purchasing margins, better inventory management, increased reach, reduced prices and greater provision of value-added services to customers. DHP has stressed on the need for technological advancement of retail pharmacy sector to address the challenges in this sector. While it helps in making the sector more efficient and robust, it will also bring down the cost of medicines thus benefiting the end consumer.