The government on Monday decided to allow retail sale of H1N1 drug Tamiflu, but only at 480 select outlets across the country. The drug will be available only after a proper prescription from a registered medical practitioner.

According to sources, the decision was taken after a series of consultations and meetings undertaken by the Health Ministry over the past few weeks. The government will come out with a notification on Tuesday, which will also give the guidelines about the retail and the sale of the drug.

Until now, Oseltamivir or Tamiflu was made available only through government channels. “The drug will take a week to hit the market,” said a Health Ministry official.

The decision was taken on a day six fresh deaths were reported across the country, taking the toll due to swine flu to 189. A total of 6,359 cases have been reported in the country so far. Tamiflu has been put under the Schedule X drugs and can be only available with chemists who have a permit to sell and distribute such drugs.

Putting the drug under Schedule X keeps both the chemist and the doctor under the scanner. “Under Schedule X, the patient will have to produce two prescriptions issued by the same doctor at the time of purchase. The chemist will have to keep one copy of the prescription for two years,” said Dr V M Katoch, DG ICMR and Secretary, Health Research.

The doctor, too, will have to clearly provide all his contact details on the prescription. “The entire chain of movement of the drug is known by the respective state drug controller. The movement of each dose from the manufacturers to the patient has to be traced,” he added.

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