Open house: What steps should admn take to provide medicines at affordable prices ?

The administration can ask doctors for a list of usually prescribed drugs and ensure their availability at medical stores. There should be regular audits of these stores. A helpline should be set up where patients can report unavailability of drugs.

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Sapna Sharda, Chandigarh

Ensure availability of medicines at all stores

The administration should take appropriate steps to ensure the availability of all medicines at medical stores. The issue of overarching at the “government-aided” counters needs to be addressed. Making medicines affordable should be the top priority of the administration.

Vineet Gandhi, Chandigarh

No medicine sans prescription

The chemist shops inside and in the vicinity of government hospitals ignore prescriptions in order to sell medicines or medical products that give them high margins. There is a nexus between pharma companies, doctors and chemists. Shops should be allotted to firms at highly subsidised rent, so that they are not forced to sell only costly medicines to recover high rent. The policy of prescribing medicines having one or two active ingredients by a generic name should be strictly implemented. The medicines having multiple ingredients like multivitamin preparations should have a code number on prescriptions.

Yash Khetarpal, Panchkula

Health Ministry needs to step in

More than the UT Administration, it is the Union Health Ministry which can make available the medicines prescribed by doctors at government hospitals at every chemist shop, at almost the same rate. Medicines being manufactured by companies for Bhartiya Jan Aushadhi Pariyojana are quite cheaper than the branded medicines having the same salt. If the efficacy of these medicines supplied by the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) dispensaries proves good, the ministry should direct the government hospitals to prescribe these medicines too.

SC Luthra, Chandigarh

Need for proper tendering system

The tenders for medical stores should be published in three reputed newspapers and posted on the websites of hospitals. The tenders be allotted to medical stores having good credentials. At least, two parallel shops be allotted through tenders in each hospital. The chemists be permitted to make nominal profits by selling medicines and medical products 15% or 20% below the MRP.

NPS Sohal, Chandigarh.

Prescribe medicines by salt name

It is a common practice to sell medicines at the MRP which varies from manufacture to manufacture for a medicine of the same salt. The administration should fix the annual rate contract for a similar salt of medicine prescribed by doctors. At the same time, doctors must prescribe medicines with salt name, rather than brand.

Col TBS Bedi (retd), Mohali

Generic medicine counter at each store

The administration should launch a campaign, in collaboration with the chemists’ association of the tricity, to make medicines affordable and available in all medical stores. The administration should ensure that there are generic medicine counters at every chemist shop. A helpline should be displayed at each chemist store where one can report anomalies in prices. Teams of the administration should make regular visits to prominent chemist shops to keep a check on the price and availability of medicines.

Sunny Dhaliwal, Chandigarh

Bust nexus promoting costly medicines

Most patients are so poor that their pocket doesn’t afford costly medicines. It is very important that medicines are available at medical stores at affordable rates. The government hospitals should step in to help the poor patients by busting the nexus of those promoting costly medicines.

M R Bhateja, Nayagaon

Keep spurious products in check

A number of chemist shops have stocked spurious medicines and medical accessories. As per the product info, their manufacturers are based in villages of Chandigarh and Delhi, some even in LIG flats. Nobody checks their drug-manufacturing licence and manufacturing facilities. These products carry highly inflated prices. The administration should form a committee to inspect the quality and prices of products and heavily penalise erring chemists.

K C Rana, Chandigarh

Provide heavy discounts on MRP

This is an open secret that chemists get a huge margin in the distributor rate and the MRP. The respective hospital authorities, while calling bids for renting out medical shops, should impose the condition of providing 30% discount on the MRP for the medicines prescribed by doctors.

Balbir Singh Batra, Mohali

Ensure shops stock cheap medicines

The first step the administration should take is to ensure that the generic medicines prescribed by doctors reach all, and all chemists must stock these medicines in adequate quantities. Some doctors prescribe only branded drugs, which are expensive. They should desist from prescribing medicines other than generic ones unless necessary. Patients should be aware about these medicines and question doctors if the latter routinely prescribe expensive brands. This way the chemist-doctor-manufacture nexus can be broken.

Bubby Soin

Separate store for each dept

Making medicines prescribed by doctors available at government hospitals will not only save a patient’s time but also put an end to arbitrary pricing by chemists. Every department at the government hospitals should have a shop providing medicines related to that particular department to avoid rush.

Abhilasha Gupta, Mohali

Chemists must display list of medicines

The administration should ensure that patients visiting government hospitals get medicines prescribed by doctors at affordable prices from various chemist stores, not just the selected ones. Every chemist should display a list of medicines with their reasonable prices. The administration should order all chemists to sell medicines at reasonable prices. A helpline should also be set up in this regard.

Adish Sood, Amloh

Create awareness on medical stores

Doctors prescribe expensive medicines and tell patients to buy these from specific shops. The administration should open shops in hospitals and in their vicinity. They should create awareness on such shops through newspapers, TV and posters.

Sukhwant Bhullar, Chandigarh

Check sale of costly medicines

Despite a slew of complaints about the sale of costly branded medicines, which are not on prescriptions, by private chemists at government hospitals in the tricity, patients allege the practice continues. The government should employ workers to keep tabs on medicines being sold at medical stores. The owners should be asked to display at their stores posters saying “Only generic medicines are sold here”.

Sanjay Chopra, Mohali

Open more stores of generic medicines

Chemist stores at government hospitals should offer maximum discounts on the MRP of branded medicines. Jan Aushadhi or generic medical stores should also be allotted at the government hospitals. The chemist stores at the government hospitals must be upgraded to provide advanced facilities to the public.

Anita K Tandon, Mundi Kharar

Open Jan Aushadhi shops in sectors

Jan Aushadhi shops should be opened in sectors as well as all major hospitals of the city to provide affordable medicines to the public. The administration should issue instructions that doctors also prescribe generic medicines. Strict vigil is needed to ensure all stores have adequate stocks of essential generic medicines.

RPS Chopra, Chandigarh

Carry out audits of chemist stores

The prevailing malpractices are due to the monopoly of the respective medical stores at many hospitals. Shops must prominently display the prices and availability status of medicines. The doctors should also prescribe generic medicines and shops must have these in adequate quantities. Many steps have been taken by the administration to streamline the working of medical shops situated on hospital campuses, but their implementation is unsatisfactory. There should be a mechanism for checking the working of the stores through periodical audits.

Bharat Bhushan Sharma

Confusion over efficacy of generic medicines

Most doctors prescribe medicines of particular brands that are available with a limited number of shops. There is still confusion among the public over the efficacy of generic medicines. A government site should be started where people can select medicines from the multiple brands of a particular salt.

Avinash Goyal, Chandigarh

Expose docs colluding with pharmacists

The recent media reports on a collusion of doctors and pharmacists is an alarming scenario. All loopholes have to be plugged. The rampant corruption in the medical industry has to be rooted out by any means. There is hardly any transparency in the system. We have to expose all those doctors who collude with pharmacists. Let us all come together and create mass awareness against these corrupt practices in the medical sector.

Dr Anil Kumar Yadav, Chandigarh

QUESTION

Parking woes at the PGI seem to have no end as the footfall has increased manifold. What steps should the authorities take to resolve the parking issue on the PGI campus?

Suggestions in not more than 70 words can be sent toopenhouse@tribunemail.com