Perilous prescription
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The state government may have decided to sell generic drugs at an 80 per cent discount to make healthcare affordable to the poor, but pharmacists don’t appear enthused by the idea. They claim to be concerned about the quality of the cheaper drugs and whether the government will be able to satisfy the standards set by the medical bodies concerned when making them available across the counter at the outlets it plans to establish across the state .
The government which opened its first generic drug outlet at Victoria Hospital about two months ago, plans to establish 20 more such units across the state in collaboration with the Karnataka State Cooperative Consumer Federation Ltd. The generic drugs for these outlets will be procured directly from manufacturers like Cipla Ltd., Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd that have entered into an agreement with the government. While coming to the rescue of the poor, it’s clear these stores could compete with the local pharmaceuticals for business too, making their concern a shade two-edged.
“Generic drugs could be a boon to the common man only if their quality is on par with branded drugs and if they are prescribed by the Indian Pharmacopoeia (an institution of the ministry of health and family welfare which sets standards for all drugs that are manufactured, sold and consumed in India),” says president of the Karnataka State Pharmacy Council, DA Gundu Rao. “When a strip of 10 paracetamol tablets is sold for Rs 4 as a result of government subsidy as against the printed price of Rs 11 at a generic drug outlet, consumers get suspicious about their quality. If the government is genuinely looking to help the public at large, it should bring down the actual cost of the drugs and their printed price as well. Why does it need to print a higher price on the strips and sell them at a cheaper rate?” he asks.
A spokesperson of the District Chemists and Druggists Association, wonders why the government needs to establish new stores dealing with generic drugs when it provides free drugs to those below poverty line in its hospitals already. “We have had a meeting recently with representatives of the Union ministry of chemicals and fertilizers regarding our concerns on the sale of generic drugs in the state and are awaiting its reply,” he says.
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