Ludhiana: During India’s coronavirus-induced nationwide lockdown, while e-pharmacies gained momentum in the age of social distancing, brick-and-mortar ones were entrusted with a difficult task.
Last March, authorities in Punjab had asked medical shops and pharmacies to keep a record of people coming in to buy medicines for fever, cough and cold — the prime symptoms of Covid-19.
Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) were issued by Punjab’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to all Zonal Licensing Authorities in the state to “advise the chemists in your jurisdiction to confidentially send a report on daily basis to the concerned Civil Surgeon” when someone buys medication for fever, cough or cold.
“This is to be treated as most urgent in the interest of the public,” the SOP had stated.
But a year on, the practice in Punjab — that has roughly 26,000 pharmacies — remains a non-starter.
Earlier this week, Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu announced that it is mandatory “for all labs and hospitals to immediately inform their respective Civil Surgeon’s offices about detection of any Covid-19 affected person for strengthening the containment measures”.
“All they have to do is write down the customer’s name, contact number and address. But even this is not happening. This is one segment of Punjab’s approach against Covid-19 that is still weak,” an epidemiologist in Punjab’s health department told ThePrint.
While a section of state health officials believed the practice could help in breaking the chain of infections, others felt the exercise was futile and held greater value last year when little was known about the disease.
Meanwhile, chemists said the practice affected their business badly as there’s a lot of stigma attached to Covid-19.
Coronavirus cases have been on a dangerous rise in Punjab for the past few weeks.
As on 1 April, Punjab recorded 23,832 active cases and 6,868 deaths. Its case fatality ratio stood at 2.94 per cent, significantly higher than the national average of 1.35 per cent. The state also emerged as a “grave concern” for the central government.
Punjab has now significantly ramped up testing. On an average, 35,000 samples are being tested daily, said state Health Secretary Hussan Lal.
Also read: India’s Covid R value further rises to 1.06, Punjab records highest infection rate at 1.32
‘Already short on manpower’
A government health official from Patiala told ThePrint the practice of pharmacies taking down information of customers with Covid symptoms failed since there isn’t any set protocol.
“During March-April last year, some shops would send us data, but that wasn’t very useful. Half the time, the number would be wrong or the address would be incomplete,” he said.
Another health official from SAS Nagar believed the practice was futile.
“Doctors prescribe paracetamol for other ailments also. I don’t think this is the best policy to track cases,” she told ThePrint.
“We are already short on manpower — vaccination and testing remain our focus,” she added.
A health department official, who didn’t want to be named, however, said the practice could help break the chain of infections.
“Covid-19 spreads very easily, so our base needs to be strong to curb it. What is the first thing a person does when they get a fever or a cough? Go to the nearest pharmacy. If we can track one person with mild symptoms, it’s possible to break the chain,” he added.
“Serious cases are notified because they land up in the hospital, but mildly symptomatic people are the ones that slip through our fingers, and those are the ones who spread the virus,” he added.
‘We were losing business’
ThePrint visited several pharmacies in Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Patiala and Hoshiarpur, none of which were following the practice currently, while others had done so last year but only briefly.
“We used to note down details of patients, who would take such medicines in the early days of the pandemic. But there is so much stigma attached to being infected with coronavirus that people began avoiding us. We were losing business,” a pharmacist, who requested anonymity, told ThePrint.
Parvinder Jit Singh, former president of Chandigarh’s Chemist Association, underlined a spike in sale of flu medication in the last 15 days.
“When people come asking for these medicines, we request them to get tested for coronavirus. However, we haven’t received any instruction to collect any data,” Singh said.
Sanjeev Garg, Joint Commissioner Food and Drug Administration, said the initiative was one of the many approaches being undertaken at a time when little was known about coronavirus.
“No action was taken against pharmacies who didn’t, or couldn’t collect data. It’s more of a public good practice. But this did help us in monitoring cases,” he told ThePrint.
Garg also said this practice was “more important last year when the outbreak had just begun and we were trying to do everything possible to control the surge”.
“This time around, we are testing far more and are also more aware,” he added.
(Edited by Debalina Dey)
Also read: Over 32,000 cases, 1,100 deaths: Why Ludhiana is among India’s worst-hit Covid districts