Amrit pharmacy outlets incur Rs 5-lakh loss per day : In-charge

Mohit Khanna

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 29

Government-owned Affordable Medicines and Reliable Implants for Treatment (Amrit) pharmacy is reportedly incurring a loss of more than Rs 5 lakh each day due to the alleged lobby of drug distributors and retailers.

The matter came to light during the launch of fifth Amrit outlet at Advanced Pediatrics Centre (APC) in the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER).

While inaugurating the pharmacy unit, PGI Director Prof Jagat Ram asked Ashish Kumar, in-charge of Amrit Pharmacy, to ensure the availability of all medicines mentioned in the list.

“Ideally, all medicine should be available at the pharmacy, but it has been observed that only 60 per cent of the medicines are available. Patients still have to visit the private chemists for purchasing the medicines which are not available at the pharmacy. This causes unnecessary harassment to patients,” said PGI Director Jagat Ram.

Ashish Kumar had responded that: “It is our sincere endeavour to provide people with medicine at cheaper rates, but a lobby of distributors-turned-medicine retailers is causing impediments in the availability of medicines at the pharmacy. The pharmacy is facing a loss of Rs 5 lakh each day due to it.”

He said: “Amrit Pharmacy is recording a monthly sale of Rs 7 crore from four outlets at the PGIMER. We are in touch with distributors in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh (UP) to ensure the availability of all medicines.”

“These medicines are being sold on heavy discount. If we count the sale of medicines according to the maximum retail price,  (MRP) we are recording a sale of Rs 16 crore every month from the pharmacy outlets at the PGI,” said an employee of the pharmacy.

He said the maximum loss was incurring at the Advance Eye Centre outlet due to the shortage of medicines. The pharmacy outlet registers a sale of Rs 2.5 lakh per day. “The sale could scale up to Rs 16 lakh a day, if all medicines are available at the outlet. If our sale jacks up, it means that people are getting medicines at cheaper rates,” added the pharmacy employee. 

The four pharmacies at the PGIMER have served around 15 lakh patients by offering average discount of 60 per cent. Apart from Chandigarh, these outlets cater to large number of patients from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal and other northern states.

Prof Jagat Ram said more Amrit Pharmacy outlets will be established at Trauma Centre soon which will cater to the patients arriving at emergency and trauma centres.