Srinagar, Dec. 6 -- The mandate requiring every pharmacy to display a QR code and toll-free number for reporting adverse drug reactions is not a cosmetic reform; it is a declaration that patient safety can no longer be treated as collateral damage in the pursuit of profit. For too long, the pharmaceutical chain has operated in shadows where counterfeit drugs, expired stock, and substandard formulations circulate with impunity, leaving patients to suffer in silence. This step drags the system into the light. It forces accountability to stand at the counter, visible to every customer, impossible to ignore.

Medicines are not commodities like soap or soda; they are lifelines. When those lifelines are compromised, the consequences are not inc...