Local Pharmacy

The neighbourhood chemist is the most accessible piece of the Indian health system and the most underused source of good advice in it. A registered pharmacist has years of training in exactly the questions people most often need answered.

What a pharmacist can help with

Whether two of your medicines interact. Whether a symptom needs a doctor or will pass. What a generic equivalent would cost - often a fraction of the branded price for the identical molecule. How and when to take something, which is the most common reason medicines fail to work. Whether something is safe in pregnancy or with your existing conditions.

Choosing well

Look for the pharmacy registration displayed, a pharmacist actually present rather than only a counter assistant, proper refrigeration for medicines that need it, and a printed bill. The bill matters: it is your record, your proof of purchase, and your route to redress if something is wrong.

Ask for the generic. Same molecule, same regulator, frequently a fraction of the price.

Two things worth refusing

Antibiotics without a prescription, which are still widely available in India and are driving antibiotic resistance to a genuinely dangerous point. And loose tablets sold out of a strip, with no batch number and no expiry date visible.