The Telangana government, in April, had devised a strategy to keep track of those with fever and COVID-19-like symptoms by collecting their contact details when they approach a pharmacy or medical shop for medicines. The onus of collecting this data was put on pharmacies and medical shops, most of whom say the government’s strategy is impractical as customers are unwilling to share their personal details. Moreover, not every pharmacy is checking if contact details provided by customers are accurate.

According to an instruction from Arvind Kumar, Telangana's Principal Secretary (Municipal Administration and Urban Development), on April 18, contact details of persons with fever and other symptoms of the coronavirus disease need to be collected and handed over to the municipality and health officials. Following the instruction, medical shops have stopped issuing medicines for fever without a prescription.

“When we don’t issue medicines without a prescription, people just go to another medical shop that doesn’t ask for any prescription. We end up losing business when already there are only a few customers coming in due to the lockdown,” says Moin who works at Solar Pharmacy in AS Rao Nagar. The shop adopted a policy of not issuing medicines for fever without a prescription earlier this week and has since been losing customers.

“This is not practical as many people are not comfortable providing their details to the medical shops. There are arguments breaking out at shops. Not all medical shops are computerised and details are taken down on paper. Who will ensure that the information given by the customer is accurate?” asks Venkatapathi S, President of the Telangana Chemists and Druggists Association.

“It’s already difficult to enforce social distancing. How will the government keep track if medical shops are not following these instructions? These aspects remain unanswered. The health authorities, police and municipality just issued instructions asking us to follow,” he adds.

Rahul B, owner of RS Pharmacy and Clinic on Rampally X Road, explains that people are unwilling to share their contact details as they don’t wish to be transferred to any quarantine centre. He says, out of 9 customers who walk in only 1 person is willing to share contact details at his store.

“Due to the lockdown, most of the customers who visit us are known to us and from around the locality, so we have their contact details. But they are against the idea of sharing it with authorities because they have a fever. There is a stigma attached to the coronavirus disease. People have a fear that the authorities would move them to a quarantine centre,” he says.

The store notes down details of persons on paper and verifies the contact by giving the number a call. “If the person is unknown to us, we give a ring on their phone to check if the number provided is accurate. The government strategy looks good on paper, but we are unsure how many medical shops will take the trouble of following all this,” Rahul adds.

Medical shops collecting customer information share details with authorities through WhatsApp.

Telangana has recorded 1,001 positive cases as of Monday. At present, the state does not test for asymptomatic primary contacts who have no travel history. Those with symptoms are being advised to medicate, staying at home. They are asked to approach a hospital if they develop any symptoms of SARI (severe acute respiratory infection), such as shortness of breath. 

The government says those asymptomatic who have come in contact with a positive case will be identified, stamped and placed under a 28-day quarantine and monitored daily by the local multidisciplinary surveillance teams.