Pune thinks twice before popping pill

From selling 10 packets every day, city pharmacists see sales of emergency contraceptive pills dip to only one packet a day

Pune thinks twice before popping pill

From selling 10 packets every day, city pharmacists see sales of emergency contraceptive pills dip to only one packet a day

Ten packets a day. That's how many packets of emergency contraceptives Rajendra Jain, a chemist shop owner from Pune's Camp area sold daily until two months ago.

Now reduced to selling a packet every day, this is the one commodity he is happy to witness a drop in sales.

"Earlier I would see the same customers coming on a regular basis to take these packets. That means that instead of using regular contraception, people were using emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs) which is quite harmful. Finally, the initial fervour has died down and now people have restored to using these pills only during an emergency," said Jain.

After nearly two years of brisk sales, chemists associations say that people are using more regular contraception which is a safer option. "Due to aggressive marketing by pharma companies people started taking the pill like it was a joke. Nobody read the cautionary note, but now we have seen that while on one hand the sale of ECPs have dropped, there has been a corresponding rise in number of regular contraceptive pills andu00a0 male condoms," said Paras Jain, secretary, Pune District Chemists and Druggists Association.

Awareness needed
Doctors attribute the drop in sales to awareness campaigns by their fraternity.

"It's a fact that we all started telling people about the ill effects of regularly using ECPs. There were cases where girls conceived after popping pills, tubal pregnancies went undetected and mothers' lives were in danger," said Dr Bharati Dhorepatil, gynaecologist at Noble Hospital.

While doctors say that awareness has spread among the educated class, they are now worried about the New Year parties ruining the show.

"Again people will party hard, have alcohol and we are worried about them indulging in irresponsible behaviour.

Besides awareness, pharma companies should show responsibility and stop marketing these pills like a magic drug," said Dr Mukta Umarji, secretary of Pune Obstretic and Gynaecological Society (POGS).