Illegal sale of pregnancy termination kits curbed

Over 25% chemists flout norms

- Ridhima Gupta

Officials from the Delhi Drugs Control Department (DDCD) fanned out across the city on three-day undercover mission in the past week where they visited retail chemists selling medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) kits without prescriptions. Their findings were alarming-more than a quarter of chemists inspected sold the kits illegally.

Between September 5 and 7, an undercover team posed as customers and visited pharmacies across the city, including areas such as Badarpur, Jasola, Kalkaji, Pul Pehladpur, Laxmi Nagar, Ghonda, Moujpur, Rohini, Pitampura, Shalimar Bagh, Uttam Nagar, Budh Vihar, Rithala, Madipur, Hari Nagar, and Nangloi. Out of 157 chemists checked —including those located close to hospitals and nursing homes ~ 41 dispensed the kits without demanding a prescription from a registered medical practitioner, according to two DDCD officials aware of the findings of the operation.

A female drug inspector involved in the operation described the method. “We created two scenarios. Male inspectors said they were buying the kit for their partners, while female inspectors posed as customers themselves. In both cases, decoy members approached first, while the rest of the team stayed on standby outside. As soon as the chemist sold the kit, the team moved in and took action.”