Pharma-Doctors Nexus Denies Low-cost Medicine for Poor: MedKart

Ahmadabad, July 29, 2016: The unholy nexus between drug makers and doctors to prevent affordable generic medicines reaching poor is a blatant violation of Medical Council of India (MCI)’s directives and also against the Constitution, which guarantees citizen their right to access quality, safe and affordable medicines.

According to an MCI notification, all registered medical professionals in India should write the generic or chemical names of drugs in their prescriptions and not the brand names. But how many doctors in our neighbourhood follow this practice religiously?

Ankur Agarwal

“Medical practitioners, who are supposed to serve patients’ interests, are unfortunately aiding to fill the coffers of pharmaceutical companies who swamp their clinics and make doctors prescribe their costly drugs to gullible patients, denying them the cheaper generic alternatives. This leaves “no-medicine” for poor who can’t afford to buy branded drugs from chemists, who seldom keep generics owing to low demand and unprofitable margin,” says Ankur Agarwal, CEO of MedKart Pharmacy, which offers life-saving generic medicines to needy through physical and online outlets.

The exorbitant prices of branded medicines and non-availability of affordable generic alternatives force poor patients to go without medicines thereby risking their lives. The vicious cycle continues to haunt them every time they fall sick, as in India a good 26 per cent go below poverty line in every hospitalization, says Ankur.

There is, however, a silver lining in the otherwise dark side of the generic medicines market in India. People can still reach out to government health centres and hospitals to buy affordable medicines and treatment. But seeing the poor upkeep and quality of health services available across these places, people have no option but to depend on private clinics, hospitals or medical practitioners to get their illness treated. But, the branded medicines prescribed by doctors are out of bound for them who are invariably caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.

However, there is an argument that even if doctors prescribe generic names, it is the pharmacists who are going to choose the medicine from a series of generic brands available with the same chemical formula. These drug stores can easily be influenced by manufacturers who want to popularize their version. Will this not put patients at serious health risk of getting substandard medicines?

Though agreeing the possibility of druggists getting influenced by pharma companies, Ankur argues that such possibility can be nullified with the improved awareness among people on generic drugs and doctors pitching in to ensure that the store representatives offer the right medicine with correct combination as majority of neighborhood drug stores are associated with the nearby clinics or hospitals.

The government should make suitable amendments in the existing laws to break the nexus between medical practitioners and drug makers, regulate druggists supplying generics and open up more Jan Aushadhi stores across India to provide low-cost and quality medicines to all, says Ankur, who has been spearheading a relentless campaign to spread the awareness on generic medicines among masses and medical fraternity.

According to an ASSOCHAM study, the domestic generic drug market will worth USD 28 billion from the current USD 13 billion by 2020 registering over 16 per cent growth annually due to USFDA approvals to several Indian generic drugs and ending of patent to 21 drugs by 2019 which the domestic drug makers is likely to capitalize.

About MedKart Pharmacy

Medkart Pharmacy is a leading generic medicine store which guides patients to get low-cost and quality generic alternatives from the best pharmaceutical companies following international quality standards. In the last 18 months alone, MedKart has helped over 35000 patients to save over Rs 8 crore by switching to generics. 

The purpose of launching Medkart was not just to spread the idea and availability of generic drugs among people but also ignite a campaign against doctors who are forcing patients to buy the prescribed branded medicines. Medkart, which has an exhaustive list of medicines, also offers online support to find the most authentic generic medicine with complete details.

Following PR websites published the article:

http://www.merinews.com/article/pharma-doctors-nexus-deprives-poor-of-low-cost-medicine/15918288.shtml

http://www.pressreleasepoint.com/pharma-doctors-nexus-deprives-patients-low-cost-medicine

http://www.briefingwire.com/pr/pharma-docs-nexus-deprives-poor-of-low-cost-medicine-medkart

http://www.einnews.com/pr_news/337247230/pharma-docs-nexus-deprives-poor-of-low-cost-medicine-medkart

http://www.indiaprwire.com/pressrelease/health-care/20160728418898.htm

http://www.freeprnow.com/pr/pharma-docs-nexus-denies-poor-low-cost-medicine-medkart

Media contact:

K Ramanathan

kr.iyar@gmail.com

GST Roll-out to Bring Cheers to Indian Logistics Sector

The proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, which is again testing waters at the Parliament for a possible sail-through, will come as a bonanza for Indian logistics industry, which, according to Care Ratings, will help the industry trim cost by 20 per cent with CAGR pacing at 15-20 per cent till 2020.

Though much-delayed, the GST roll out will facilitate uniform taxation structure and cheaper and faster delivery/movement of goods across India, the report noted.

The one-nation-one-tax structure can bring down the tax cost considerably for logistics sector which is primarily classified into transportation, warehousing, freight forwarding and value-added logistics,  and truckers can avoid long queues at entry points or check-points of inter or intra states and deliver goods early at much lower operational cost.

The logistics cost can go down drastically as operators can restructure and rationalize warehouses and logistical infrastructure. Trucks remain idle for most part of the day at check posts or entry points due to entry tax, Octroi, local body tax and other such hurdles, which lead to loss of huge man-hour and fuel, the report pointed out.

The levying of GST on goods transportation and availability of full credit on interstate transactions will lower the logistic cost by 1.5-2 per cent of sales supported by go down optimization and lower inventory cost.

A World Bank report has recently pointed out that uniform taxation can save corporates up to 40 per cent of their logistic expenses which are mostly incurred at toll plazas and check-posts.

“GST will create a positive environment of uniform taxation system instead of the current cascading taxes faced by traders through Central and State Tax Policies. The central GST, which is proposed for inter-state movements of goods, will reduce enormous paper works and complexities faced by finance people. They now have to only follow one policy with astute transparency. For those moving cargo within the state, will have to comply only with the state laws as for as taxation is concerned. This will reduce the tax for traders who may pass on the benefit to the end customers,” opines Bhaskar Venkatraman, the Founder and Director of JusTransact.com, the e-commerce wing of Millennium India, which caters POS technology products to logistics and other industries.

The transportation aids more than 60 per cent growth of logistics sector followed by warehousing, which meets agricultural and industrial storage at 25 per cent, while packaging and other related businesses contributes the rest, he says.

Currently India follows double taxation policy – central and state taxes, creating complex web of taxes on goods and services with each state imposing taxes at various rates on goods that cross its borders, leading to multiple taxation and complex calculation processes.

At present, the taxation rate goes up at 26.5% (Central VAT (Cenvat) of 14 per cent and State VAT of 12.5 per cent) apart from 2 per cent state-level corporate tax for moving inter-state goods.

The proposed GST model, which includes both central GST and state GST, proposes to convert around 29 Central and State taxes and tariffs into a single tax at the point of sale (POS).  According to the draft proposal, GST is expected to bring down the combined Centre and State rates to 18-21 per cent from the current 26.5 per cent.

GST will also eliminate the current practice followed by companies to manage multiple warehouses at different states due to the existing interstate taxation policy. Companies are forced to maintain warehouses in each state and on an average each company maintains 20-30 warehouses in addition to have 20-30 carry & forwarding agents in each state making the supply chain longer, complicated and inefficient.

About JusTransact.com

Justransact.com is an e-commerce venture of Millennium Retech Ventures India Pvt. Ltd promoted by Millennium Group. JusTrasact.com was launched with a sole motive of providing reliable, affordable and scalable POS solutions to the fast growing retail sector in India. POS technology facilitates small, medium and large businesses automate their activities, enhance customer experience and also make them competitive with established players. The portal has made world-class cutting-edge POS Hardware, Software and Knowledge accessible to retailers. Headquartered in Chennai and having branches in major cities in India, Justransact.com offers one-stop solution for all kinds of POS needs to both retail and non-retail business applications. The portal currently sells 1000+ POS products of 15+ categories from 40+ world’s leading brands.

Media contact:

K Ramanathan

kr.iyar@gmail.com

Also published in:

JusTransact.com

Press Release Point

Merinews.com

IndiaPRwire

FreePressRelease

Briefingwire

FreePRnow

MedKart Urges Indian Doctors to Prescribe Generic Drugs

Ahmadabad: In the absence of stringent regulations and monitoring system, generic medicines in India, which are much cheaper than the branded ones having a market share of over $13 billion, are yet to take wings to reach the poor and middle class people, who are already burdened with mounting medical bills.

Doctors, who are supposed to mention the generic names of the medicines in their prescriptions as per the Medical Council of India (MCI)’s diktat, are simply flouting the rules by writing the brand names which are invariably costlier than the cheap and genuine alternatives containing the same chemical composition. In simple terms, the right to prescribe medicine is being misused by them for the benefit of a few pharma brands.

The government’s initiative to open up Jan Aushadhi stores across India to supply low-priced and quality generic medicines to poor has found a chink in its own armor as  Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) under Union Health ministry has recently instructed all retail chemists and pharmacists not to sell ‘cheaper drugs with identical  ingredients’. 

Ankur Agarwal

However, the government is determined to bring in a new legislation in the Parliament to make doctors write the chemical composition of drugs instead of the names given by the pharma brands. DTAB, however, argues that it can’t let pharmacists/chemists to select the cheap generics alternative to patients, though all generic medicines usually get the mandatory approvals and considered safe.

Arguing that pharma giants are allegedly colluding with medical practitioners to promote their brands thereby denying patients cheaper alternatives,  Ankur Agarwal, CEO of MedKart Pharmacy, who strives to spread the awareness on generic medicines in India, says, “It is unfortunate that though most of the leading Indian pharmaceutical companies are making a good use of the huge international market for generic medicines, when it comes to India, they want their brands to be used by colluding with physicians  and drug stores. There is also a lack of awareness among doctors and general public about the advantages of generic medicines. Government should break this sinister campaign and create a level playing field for all drug companies to sell their products through an open market system.”

Allying DTAB’s apprehension that retail chemists/drug stores may offer ineffective and even harmful cheap drugs to patients, Ankur says, “Patients can always cross-check the medicines with the doctors if druggists offer them with generic medicines. For this, doctors should be cooperative and not be brand conscious. For drugs other than the patented ones, they should encourage patients to use cheaper alternatives by prescribing generics. DTAB’s notion that drug stores are not authorized to sell matching drugs of branded medicines prescribed by the doctor can’t be accepted as they are the last mile gateways for patients to get prescribed medicines.”

Though we welcome the government’s initiative to introduce a Bill in the Parliament to mandate the sale of generic drugs, much needs to be done to plug the loopholes in the system as drug stores selling generic medicines also need to be monitored and regulated for the benefit of needy patients, feels Ankur, whose MedKart Pharmacy not only ignites the idea of generic medicines among Indians but also strives to instill social responsibility  among doctors to prescribe low cost alternative drugs to patients instead of the costly branded ones.

According to a recent study by the leading industrial body ASSOCHAM and market research firm RNCOS, the generic drug market in India is expected to cross $28 billion by 2020 from the current level of $13 billion registering a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of about 16.3 per cent. 

The growth is apparently due to the expiry of USFDA patent to over 20 Indian drugs by 2019, which the other drug companies would capitalize it by developing their own generic drugs in India.  Presently the market size of the pharmaceutical industry in India stands at US$ 20 billion.

About MedKart Pharmacy

Medkart Pharmacy is a leading generic medicine store which guides patients to get low-cost and quality generic alternatives from the best pharmaceutical companies following international quality standards. In the last 18 months alone, MedKart has helped over 35000 patients to save over Rs 8 crore by switching to generics. 

The purpose of launching Medkart was not just to spread the idea and availability of generic drugs among people but also ignite a campaign against doctors who are forcing patients to buy the prescribed branded medicines. Medkart, which has an exhaustive list of medicines, also offers online support to find the most authentic generic medicine with complete details.

Media contact:

K Ramanathan

kr.iyar@gmail.com

Also published in: 

Merinews.com

Open PR

How much can you save with your POS system?

Even as India is placed among the fastest growing retail economies in the world, almost 80 per cent of businesses, small, medium and large ones put together, are running the show with traditional means notwithstanding the pressure exhorted by technologically advanced peers, advantages of having POS system at checkouts and growing demand from customers for enhanced shopping experience.

Though there are various reasons for their loyalty towards traditional business transactions, the common one being the misconception about the recurring cost and low business output due to the usage of Point Of Sale (POS) technology products, chiefly at checkouts. 

However, the situation is changing now in India as more and more new and existing businesses are relying on POS technology to give customers a unique shopping experience. According to experts, a basic POS system, which contains a cash register, card reader, barcode scanner and a thermal receipt printer, can actually benefit retailers in several ways. Though it may require a small initial investment, these systems not only make their retail business organized and attractive for customers, but also help them increase sales and profit without recurring expenses. 

With an efficient POS system at checkouts, retailers can enhance the functions of cash registers and cut costs by improving the overall operational efficiency. 

Read my full Point of Sale blog here.