A viral social-media post about Blinkit’s “instant doctor-call” feature has triggered a national reckoning over how far quick-commerce platforms should be allowed to go in mediating essential healthcare. As India battles one of the world’s worst antibiotic-resistance crises, the episode has forced uncomfortable questions about safety, oversight and the growing normalisation of medical advice delivered like a doorstep grocery order.
A ‘Convenience’ That Opened a Larger Debate
When a woman on X shared how easily Blinkit connected her to a “general physician” who approved prescription-only medicines in minutes, the post was meant as a light remark on convenience. Instead, it set off a storm.
Her experience ordering an antifungal cream, cold-and-flu tablets and the antibiotic Azicip without a valid prescription quickly drew scrutiny from doctors across India, who warned that such instant approvals trivialise medicine and risk serious patient harm.
In a subsequent test of the service offered a similar result: the platform automatically connected reporters to a doctor identified only as “Dr Aiman,” who approved an antibiotic without answering basic questions about their qualifications, full name or place of practice. The call ended abruptly, followed by an immediate prescription. The ease of this transaction, experts say, is precisely the problem.
Medical Professionals Warn of Dangerous Shortcuts
Across hospitals and clinics, senior physicians voiced near-unanimous alarm at what they called a “dangerous” and “reckless” model of healthcare delivery. Internal medicine specialist Dr. Suranjit Chatterjee of Indraprastha Apollo Hospital termed the practice “completely wrong,” stressing that diagnosing infections requires time, clinical examination and access to patient history none of which is possible over a rushed audio call.
Senior hepatologist Dr. Cyriac Abby Philips, widely known as “The Liver Doc,” was even more blunt. Calling the service “pretty much a stupid service,” he highlighted a case where a fungal infection was allegedly diagnosed over the phone and treated with antibiotics meant for bacteria. Medical professionals argue that such shortcuts invite misdiagnoses, trigger unnecessary antibiotic use, worsen fungal infections, and mask underlying diseases that require detailed evaluation.
India’s Telemedicine Practice Guidelines, issued by the Health Ministry, explicitly prohibit remote prescriptions for antibiotics and antifungals except in tightly defined circumstances. Yet the Blinkit episode suggests that compliance and enforcement remain uneven.
A Public Health Crisis Already at India’s Doorstep
The controversy comes at a time when India is facing an escalating antimicrobial resistance (AMR) emergency. A recent Lancet study found that India has become the epicentre of antibiotic resistance globally, with more than eight in ten patients carrying resistant microbes before undergoing certain diagnostic procedures.
Nearly one million cases annually involve bacteria resistant to carbapenem, a critical last-resort antibiotic, according to WHO data. Experts fear that quick-commerce platforms offering frictionless access to medication could worsen an already dire situation. They warn that such services risk:
Normalising antibiotic self-medication
Turning prescriptions into a mere procedural formality
Allowing unverified or anonymous doctors to clear restricted drugs
Encouraging patients to bypass proper medical evaluation
Unchecked, these patterns could accelerate the spread of resistant infections and undermine India’s fragile antibiotic governance.
A Larger Reckoning Over Digital Health and Accountability
Beyond the question of medical accuracy, the episode has sparked debate about transparency and responsibility. The reluctance of Blinkit’s associated “general physician” to disclose even basic professional details raised deeper concerns about accountability in digital health services.
India is actively pushing for broader telemedicine adoption, but doctors argue that the line between accessibility and safety is being blurred in the race to deliver convenience. Essential services, they caution, cannot be treated like e-commerce especially when the risks include life-threatening infections, drug misuse and systemic antibiotic resistance.
