New Delhi, March 17: The Centre has proposed an electronic platform to track the movement and sales of medicines across the country with manufacturers, distributors and retailers mandated to register and document their sales as part of efforts to regulate drug sales.

The Union health ministry, concerned about the absence of an efficient track-and-trace mechanism for drugs, wants to establish an "e-portal" to host details of all medicines dispensed that will also be periodically audited for compliance with drug laws.

A notice issued by the ministry this week says all manufacturers, stockists, retail and online pharmacies will need to register themselves on the e-portal and periodically enter details of the drugs "received, sold, returned or disposed of in any other manner".

The proposal is intended to address long-standing concerns about the unregulated sale of medicines, particularly prescription drugs such as antibiotics, that is contributing to the growth of drug-resistance in microbes, posing an emerging public health threat.

Studies across the country have established that several key bacteria that can cause life-threatening conditions such as pneumonia and stomach infections have become resistant even to some last-resort antibiotics.

The ministry said that while the government had earlier introduced barcodes on medicine packets, this has not been made mandatory because of concerns expressed by sections of the small and medium-scale pharmaceutical industry.

The manufacturers, distributors and retailers registered on the e-portal will be able to enter data on medicines online or through mobile phones. "No retailer, chemist, or e-pharmacy outlet shall be permitted to sell any medicine or drug unless such pharmacy is registered on the e-portal," the notice said.

In case of prescription medicines such as antibiotics, among other classes of drugs, the retailers will need to include the prescribing doctors' registration number and the quantity supplied. The details, other than the patient's name, will not be necessary in non-prescription drugs.

The patients' details will be available only to central and state drug regulators who could also use data on the e-portal for the "pharmacovigilance" programme, a nationwide effort to track any adverse side effects of medicines.

Pharmacies in rural or remote areas may upload their data through mobile phones or the Internet once in two weeks. The new mechanism will also require hospitals to enter the details of medicines dispensed. The ministry has also proposed audits that would allow drug regulators to detect any breaches of conditions of drug laws.