Ash, a 22-year-old gender studies student from South Delhi, has been receiving psychiatric treatment and taking medication as part of it.

“I have been a long-time consumer of medicines related to my anxiety,” he said. “Although I don’t get the medicines prescribed by my doctor online, sometimes I do order over-the-counter medicines, which I used to require frequently, almost a year ago.”

Ash, who recently underwent neck surgery, said Blinkit and Zepto had proved particularly useful when he was unwell and had no friends nearby to help him get medicines.

“Once I tried ordering a medicine that I had been taking for a long time, but I did not have a prescription. The e-commerce service called me and asked about my symptoms,” he added.

When asked if the person who called was a doctor or a pharmacist, Ash was not confident about their qualifications. He confirmed that they got the delivery of the exact same medicine that he ordered.

In terms of trust, Ash relied on the e-commerce platforms for their quick deliveries. “At the time of emergency, these platforms come in handy,” he said.

Nibras Jamil, an MBA student from Haryana, finds it convenient to order medicines through e-commerce platforms. “To go outside my college campus and get a medicine post sunset is not very safe for me,” said the 23-year-old student, who hails from West Bengal.

She has been using an antibacterial cream for a long time and recalled an instance when she needed it and ordered it from Blinkit. “A pharmacist called me to enquire why I needed the cream, for how long I have been using it, what my symptoms are, etc. But they delivered me the same medicine that I ordered,” she said.

She also trusts these platforms to order medicines, as she has not faced any issues so far. “I have been using these medicines for a long time now, so I have an idea of how these medicines work. They had been prescribed to me earlier as well,” she added.

Sammi, a Delhi-based photographer and Jamia graduate, said the high cost of her medicines and the stigma around antidepressants often make buying them from local pharmacies difficult.

“My meds cost a lot,” she said, adding that many pharmacies would not dispense prescribed antidepressants without a recent prescription. “The stigma is insane and so many of them just make your symptoms worse by begging for your own deserved medicines.”

She usually orders through Apollo 24/7, especially when pharmacies are closed. However, she said online deliveries can take a day or two, while Blinkit has a limited range of antidepressants. “It’s great if you have chronic illness and need something at late night but live alone so there’s nobody to bring you that,” she said.

Sammi, who didn’t want to give her full name to protect her privacy, said Blinkit asks users to upload a prescription, although she claimed medicines not listed on it can also be added. A doctor, she said, then calls to ask why the medicines are being ordered.

She has not experienced dosage errors or unwanted substitutions from quick-commerce platforms. In fact, she said her neighbourhood pharmacy had made such errors in the past. “However my pharmacy has done that and that’s why I’d rather choose Blinkit. Alas they don’t have a wide variation of meds,” she said.

“No such instructions are given”: A doctor’s take on the risks

Dr Rahul Shukla, a medical oncologist at BLK-Max Super Speciality Hospital, said the risks of ordering medicines online extend beyond what is delivered to what patients do not receive: proper counselling.

While he could not recall any patient landing in his OPD due to an overdose or misuse of an over-the-counter medicine bought online, he said patient attendants had shared anecdotes of receiving medicines that were not what the doctor had prescribed.

A registered pharmacist, he said, would explain how to store and administer medicines, as well as possible food or drug interactions. Such guidance is often missing from app-based deliveries. “There would be some special instructions like you have to keep it away from sunlight, you have to keep it inside the box,” he said. Pharmacists also help clarify doctors’ instructions, since “doctors use a lot of abbreviations.”

“But the delivery from the platform is not like that. No such instructions are given,” he said.

Dr Shukla said he had personally tested the verification process on Apollo 24/7 and Tata 1mg two or three times. The calls he received from people identifying themselves as MBBS doctors, he said, appeared more like a formality than a meaningful consultation.

“It is a formality call… whatever you order, they are going to give it to you. They do not care much about what you are saying,” he said.

He also flagged limited availability of specific formulations. When he tried ordering an iron supplement, for instance, he wanted ferrous gluconate but the platform offered only ferrous sulphate. “Some patients can easily tolerate, some patients cannot easily tolerate. Some have more side effects, some have less,” he said.

For medicines available in multiple formulations, he said, patients may therefore end up accepting an alternative or visiting a physical pharmacy anyway.

Where the law stands on quick commerce medicine delivery 

While platforms like Blinkit and Zepto continue to expand medicine delivery, India still has no dedicated law governing e-pharmacies. 

The existing Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, and Pharmacy Act, 1948, apply to online sale by extension, requiring a valid prescription for Schedule H(prescription-only drugs), H1(stricter category covering habit-forming drugs and select antibiotics, meant to curb antimicrobial resistance), and X (narcotic and psychotropic drugs, needing the strictest licensing) drugs and dispensation only by a registered pharmacist. 

Draft e-pharmacy rules proposed in 2018 remain unenforced eight years on, leaving these platforms in a legal grey zone. 

In August 2025, the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists wrote to the Union Home Ministry, warning that quick-commerce delivery has fuelled misuse of Schedule H drugs like Pregabalin, echoing exactly the gaps patients and Dr Shukla described. 

Blinkit and Zepto have been reached out to for comments at the time of publishing, but a response is awaited.

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