Permit easier access to over-the-counter meds

There's a clear case for letting regular retailers sell prescription-free medicines. The Indian market for drugs would benefit if supply curbs are eased to enable wider consumer access

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The liberalization of India's economy, as tracked by an embrace of free-market principles, has been rather slow in chipping away at old precepts of a nanny state. We should thus welcome the government's effort to ease the retail availability of medicines that can safely be sold over the counter (OTC): i.e., without a doctor's prescription. As reported by Mint, the Drugs Technical Advisory Board is seeking a tweak in regulations to first define OTC drugs clearly and then license a wide set of retailers to sell these. As of now, such pills can only be dispensed by chemists with qualified pharmacists behind their counters (or web interfaces). As the report indicates, the government's OTC list is likely to include regular pain-killers, antiallergics, laxatives, cough syrups, anti-fungal products and some formulations for asthma patients. All of these-and more-are routinely used and widely bought without the explicit advice of doctors anyway. It's just that it involves hunting for chemist shops, which are far fewer than grocery sto