Schedule H
Definition
List of prescription drugs under the 1945 Rules; sold only on a registered medical practitioner's prescription. Includes most antibiotics, sedatives, antipsychotics and antihypertensives.
- Instrument
- 1945 Rules under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act
- Covers
- Prescription-only drugs
- Examples
- Most antibiotics, sedatives, antipsychotics, antihypertensives
- Sale condition
- Registered medical practitioner's prescription required
Common questions
How is Schedule H different from Schedule X?+
Schedule H covers general prescription-only medicines sold against a prescription with normal pharmacy record-keeping, while Schedule X applies to narcotics and psychotropics that additionally require double-lock storage and a two-year retained register.
Why does Schedule H classification matter in a forensic toxicology case?+
Finding a Schedule H drug without a matching prescription record can support an inference of diversion, self-medication, or illicit sourcing, which is relevant to both criminal and civil poisoning investigations.
Related terms
- CDSCO
- Central Drugs Standard Control Organization, headquartered in Delhi, headed by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI). The federal regulator under the...
- Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940
- Central statute governing the import, manufacture, sale and distribution of drugs and cosmetics in India. Read with the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules...
- NDPS Act 1985
- India's Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985, the primary statute governing drug offences, establishing small and commercial quantity thresholds that determine...
- Poison Act 1919
- Seventeen-section central statute empowering state governments to notify substances as 'poisons' and to license their sale, possession and import. Still in force.
- Schedule H1
- Forty-six substances notified by the 2013 amendment (Drugs and Cosmetics Fourth Amendment Rules, 2013, GSR 588(E) dated 30 August 2013, in force...
- Schedule X
- Psychotropic substances and narcotics notified under the 1945 Rules. Stored under double lock, register retained for two years, copy of prescription retained.