Hyderabad: Telangana’s drug control authorities are cracking the whip on errant pharmacies, with Medchal–Malkajgiri district alone accounting for a staggering 142 medical shops slapped with notices for selling medicines without prescriptions.
The crackdown, which has now expanded to multiple districts, is being spearheaded by the Telangana Drugs Control Administration (DCA). Over the past week, DCA teams fanned out across the state, inspecting pharmacies for violations ranging from unlicensed sales to unauthorised stockpiling and inflated pricing.
In Alwal, a raid on a shop operating without a valid licence yielded a ₹30,000 haul, stocked with anti-fungal drugs, painkillers, and even erectile dysfunction pills. Officers said the owner had no credentials and was operating off the grid, in clear violation of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.
Similar raids were carried out in Nizamabad, Ranga Reddy, Mahabubabad, Adilabad, and Siddipet districts. Officials say most violations involved the sale of regulated medicines without prescriptions, poor documentation, and in some cases, storage of medicines in unhygienic conditions.
The checks are being conducted under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940; the Drugs Price Control Order, 2013; and the Magic Remedies Act, 1954. Authorities say the goal is to weed out unregulated sales that endanger public safety and fuel misuse.
A senior official warned that the crackdown is far from over. “We’re not just doing this for show. This is about health, not just compliance,” he said, hinting at more surprise inspections in the coming weeks.