Chemists in Chennai, and the rest of India

GlobeTrekker25

Are prescriptions needed at pharmacies in Chennai? I take valium and clonazepam and am running out of my medication by the time I get there. Is it possible to purchase these at the chemist over the counter without a prescription?

capt_mahajan

Though a prescription is required in principle, you will find quite a few chemists who will sell without one.

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Radjesh

I thought one always needed a prescription for Valium...

Nick-H

Take a prescription from home. At worst, call by a local doc to get a prescription; you're paper from home should help too persuade them that you are legit.

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Radjesh

Well, this is India. Anything & everything happens here, so not to worry

ISN

That is right, if you take a piece of white paper and scribble the prescription and sign in the bottom, the chemist will give it to you.

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GlobeTrekker25

Hey All,

Are prescription doctor's scripts written by United States and European doctors accepted throughout pharmacies in India, or are scripts by doctors residing in India only acceptable? I am interested because I do not want to bring too much medication with me and it would be great to save cash by not paying the copayment for the medicine. Any thoughts are well appreciated.

ISN

The chemist will accept the prescription from a foreign doctor; if one does not accept it just find another one. Pharmacy’s are an un-regulated (laws are only on the books and not implemented) business in India so they will give you your medication if you show them a prescription from an foreign doctor.

zoltan

In a strict legal sense, a medical prescription is only valid in the country for which it was written.

A letter from a GP helps if you need to take a certain amount of medication across borders (and in some countries - Dubai; Greece), it is essential to have something to cover yourself otherwise you could wind up in jail. There was a story a few years back, of an Aussie woman who took disprin or paracetamol with her to Greece. This is a banned substance (without a prescription or doctors letter) - she was bailed up & threatened with jail. Dubai has a zero-drug policy at its airport. So better safe than sorry.

I've purchased valiums on ocassion in India and only had problems in Delhi where they asked for a script from a GP.

Cheers
Zoltan

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RPG

I have never had a problem buying medicines without a prescription, except last year when I found Nitrest (Ambien) difficult to buy. No problem with some other prescription meds, but Valium may be in the same restricted class as Nitrest.

But a local prescription is easy. The pharmacy will direct you to a doctor, who will charge maybe Rs. 100 or 200 and will not ask any questions. Not a big deal at all.

machadinha

I would:

- Carry what I need to avoid any hassles, and carry a prescription in plain and legible English to explain why I have it on me, including for border crossings indeed.

- Carry a prescription for any further (emergency/protracted stay) needs; make sure to know the generic names (possibly with amounts of active ingredients?) and dosages of what you're taking, as medicine brand names may and will differ. (Valium is generically known as diazepam I think, but I suppose the brand name will be commonly understood.)

- In the case of India, as already said above I wouldn't worry too much about availability or the ability to get it, save for exceptional medical requirements. (You might want to check on the availability of clonazepam there. Maybe your doctor or local hospital or national health board wants to check for you, or you could call up an Indian hospital, or search the web for it.)

I'm not sure what you mean about your copayment, but assuming you need those drugs, I wouldn't advise trying to skimp on them just for a holiday.

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obione980

Co-payments are a function Health Insurance - whereby your insurer pays up to set amount for prescription drugs, and the insured patient pays the rest.

What that has to do with drugs bought in India by a foreigner I can't imagine.

machadinha

Presumably that doing so (buying them abroad) could save you a few bucks (I had to look up the term myself). If you're dependent on those drugs though, again I wouldn't say this is the wisest course of action, or certainly not if I wasn't sure from personal experience that it would cause me no trouble. In other words, I'd rather have those pills on me, and not economize on my possible health. I may be wrong but the combination of the two mentioned doesn't strike me as a casual luxury that one can forego if necessary. Anyway that is not to entice the original poster to delve into that, please, it's none of our business, and a general query would have been just as good.

Just trying to advise, as always And as always: I'm no medic, speak to your docs. Most of it had already been said above anyway.

The original question of:

had however inspired me with the thought of, So? Replenish your stocks before you go. Could get more complicated if you're going on a year-long round-the-world trip first of course. But people do it. On that note, for long-term travel one might want to look into perishability also when exposed to extreme temperatures (airplane holds!) I guess. I'd just discuss it with my doc. I understand the public health care system in the US ain't all that though, so I can see I think why it might throw up some financial concerns. But it still seems unwise to want to save on it if you can avoid it.

RPG

No, actually, the insured patient pays a certain amount per one-month supply of a medication, and then the insurer pays the rest. Which is quite different.

Most drugs cost much less in India than the co-payment required from the insured (in the US), so buying medications in India (without any involvement of the insurance company) saves money.