Prakash Kamat
Panaji,September 27-It has been observed that gradually drug-manufacturers in India have started introducing 15 tablets or capsules per strip rather than usual 10 just to mint extra money and profit.
Veteran Right to Information activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal says that usually chemists sell complete strip of the medicine rather than cutting the strip for wanted less tablets. Rest of the tablets or capsules after taking the prescribed dose for limited days practically becomes a total waste for consumers.
National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (Union Ministry of Petro Chemicals) should regulate packing-formula in true metric spirit by ensuring pack of medicines in packs of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 or 1000 tablets, capsules or millilitres and,thereafter, in multiples of 1000.
Exemption from such packing-formula may be sought from regulatory authority for dose-wise administration. This will also prevent another anti-consumer practice of some commonly advertised medicines like cough lozenges being packed in strips of eight because consumers usually judge price of such medicines per strip without realising that the strip has less number of lozenges than usual ten.
Drug-manufacturers should also be directed to print front side of strips in a manner that name of the medicine appears on each of the tablet or capsule may be by having a background print with name of medicine printed all over the strip with other details like composition overprinted on the strip. Likewise manufacturing and expiry dates should be printed repeatedly all over the back side of the strip. There must be some maximum overall trade-margin on all medicines including both generic and branded medicines. Presently there is a very big loot even in wholesale sale of generic medicines where generic medicines have Maximum-Retail-Price (MRP) which is at times ten times more the distributor-price, says Mr. Agrawal.(eom)
