Sending medicines by courier in Kerala

Ordinary prescription medicines, repeat prescriptions, over-the-counter items and Ayurveda preparations all travel normally. This is one of the most common things moved across Kottayam in a day — the Medical College and the pharmacies around it generate a steady flow of it.

Send the pharmacy bill or a copy of the prescription with the parcel. It is the document that establishes what the medicine is and who dispensed it, and it costs nothing to include.

Narcotics and Schedule X drugs are not carried, and no exception is available for them. These require a licensed chain of custody that a general courier does not provide.

If you are unsure which schedule something falls under, the dispensing pharmacist will know, and asking before booking is faster than finding out at pickup.

Anything that needs to stay cold should go in an insulated pouch with a gel pack, packed by the pharmacy rather than at home. Kerala's afternoon heat is the constraint, so a morning pickup window is the safer choice for these.

Glass bottles and ampoules travel best boxed with padding rather than loose in a carry bag. Marking the booking as fragile keeps the parcel upright and unstacked.

The handover code goes to whoever you name as the recipient, so a delivery to an elderly parent or a patient in a ward should carry their number, not yours — otherwise the runner arrives with a code nobody at the door can confirm.

For a ward delivery, put the ward and bed in the landmark line. Hospital campuses are the one place where a map pin genuinely is not enough.