Agree totally Lin! Before husband had got a season ticket for his medication over in Uk...used to stock up on his anti inflammatory tablets over there. Exactly the same brand, packaging but pennies! After a bad dose of campylobactor in Turkey few years back I'd been to my own doctor and paid £20 private presciption of the antibiotic that is needed. The sell by date on this has now expired so always get some when in Goa as a back up! I'd been to doctors in Turkey and they had given me two different types of antibiotic to help it but none were the right ones!

Is it possible to buy Ventolin Inhalers over the counter? If so does anyone know how much they would be?

Yes you can buy ventolin inhalers the price is Rs 76.86 (less than a pound)

and if you want ayurvedic,himalaya herbs from 50rp..just check on the net for prices and see,and they work...

and if you want ayurvedic,himalaya herbs from 50rp..just check on the net for prices and see,and they work...

What are these?

http://www.himalayahealthcare.com/aboutayurveda/herbsminerals.htm

Check here for all the info,May not be what you think though
http://www.himalayahealthcare.com/aboutayurveda/index.htm

My parents have just came over to visit in Goa and my dad found out he has run out of the heart tablets that he needed. I visited a chemist and managed to get a weeks supply for 20 rupees. He said in the UK he pays £6 ish for a weeks supply!!!!
You can buy near enough any medicines over here... no problem

Just my luck. The only tablets I take are Symvastatins for cholesterol but they were more expensive at the chemist in Cavelossim. The chemist couldnt believe it when I told him and assumed I was getting some kind of benefit payment which I,m not

It's usually the more common everyday drugs that are considerably lower cost than UK, the reason being that they are used in such quantity that it's worth the Indian generic "copy" companies manufacturing and selling these. It's not worth their while setting up manufacturing processes for lesser used drugs and these are often imported from Europe or USA at higher original costs plus importing duties etc. So yes! you can buy most common drugs etc at much lower cost but check first as some are at least as expensive as we can get in UK taking prescription charge into acount.

Gutted..... i've been paying rps-78 for my inhalers!

Please be very careful with what they give you, this year in January, we had stayed in Goa for 7 weeks, and we left Goa for Mumbai, to spend another week before travelling home, as we were hiring the same villa for another holiday in November we left two suitcases, in the land lords house for our return.

It wasen't until we reached Mumbai that we realised we had left our medication in Goa, both my husband and I take very strong prescription pain killers, we wern't worried as I had a copy of our prescription, and we took this to a pharmacy in Mumbai, we were given the equivelent to our prescription so we thought. My pain killers are Tramodol, and are usually capsules in this country, I take between four and 8 capsules a day, I was given small white tablets, which I used as I normally do. I felt great.

On arriving back in this country, and arriving home, I got into the car to drive to the supermarket, to get some milk and bread, on the way to the supermarket, the engine stalled I started the car again, forgetting I was still in gear, I drove into the back of a 60,000 pound Jaguar, writing off his car, and also writing off my car, which was exactly 3 months old. The police were called, and I was breathalised, which I passed, but the police arrested me believing I was under the influence of drugs, they had asked me to walk a straight line, with out the aid of my crutch, and to do daft tests like standing on one foot, for the count of 50, well I couldn't do this any way as I have a damaged hip, at the police station I gave a urine sample, and this was sent away for testing, in the mean while I was bailed.

2 months later I returned to the police station as per the bail, expecting that there would be no charge, as the only drugs that I had taken were my prescription drugs, you can imagine my horror to find that the sample that I had given them revealed that I had been taking VALIUM what I thought was Tramadol was Valium and I had been taking up to 8 a day for the past week, I was charged with Driving under the influence of prescription drugs.

Besides losing my licence I was also under the threat of Prison because of the amount of Valium I had in my system, It took nearly 4 months, with the aid of a very good Solicitor to get this case dropped, we had to employ a laboratory to get the tablets I had remaining annalised, an orthapedic surgeon, to examine me to prove that I couldn't have passed the tests, Doctors letters were needed, It was four months of sheer hell.

In the end the Crown Prosecution decided not to go ahead with the case as they could not guarentee successful outcome of my being proved Guilty. I was damned lucky, because if I had been found guilty my insurance would not have covered me, I would have had to pay out more than 80,000 pounds for the cars, and also the injuries to the other driver.

Never again will I use my prescription abroad, so please be very very careful with what tablets you are given. There tablets are not the same as ours, so you wont know the difference, until it is too late.

Good points and very well made, sounds like a horrific experience. Seems like your drugs were actually substituted either on purpose or accidently by the chemist, here that certainly shouldn't happen but India ??? In the case of generic (copy) drugs the chemical formulation is rarely identical to the original licensed drug which can lead to greater or lesser therapeutic effect and also a different side effect profile! So buyer beware. In most cases though the difference (if any) should be negligable, xcept cost of course!

tomitma
that is a horror story. What a nightmare. Thank you for being brave enough to tell others about your experience. It would certainly make me think twice.

It was the 1st of August that I finally received the letter telling me that the case had been dropped, I was damned lucky, because I could also have been charged with dangerous driving, or driving with out due care and attention, but the CPS decided to go for under the influence of drugs, Since February this year, All that I could think about was, If I am found guilty, I will lose my house ,my licence, and maybe even my freedom, I would have lost the house because I would have had to pay over 80,000 pounds. When I received the letter, I spend the rest of the day crying, because, I was so relieved.

I will not even ask for a headach tablet when I go back to Goa, I will gladly suffer in silence.

At least its now all over. And am I Glad.

Thats why I thought that I had better put this on the site. You just don't realise until its too late.
Gayle

Hi Gayle What a terrible experience for you, I cant begin to imagine what you must have been thru.
But I am glad everything has worked out ok for you. Obviously it would make you very wary now, and I dont blame you for not taking any more medication that could be bought in India!
Take care

My wife had a eye complaint (conjunctivitis, not sure about spelling) chemist in Cavellosim gave her some drops and her eye started to bleed in the corner and next day she looked like she had a black eye. Turned out it was something to do with a steroid in the drops. This was a good clean chemist shop not one of the small stalls. We also bought some tablets for the runs and stomach problems which were fantastic. just pot luck I guess.