A survey conducted by the India office of the international non-governmental organisation, Transparency International, reveals that, according to people’s actual experiences, the health service is the most corrupt service sector in India. It ranks India as one of the 30 most corrupt countries in the world. Indifferent treatment of patients, unofficial payments to providers, lack of patient privacy, and inadequate provision of medicines and supplies are some of the most common demerits and malpractices prevailing in the health services in India.

The survey, conducted with private marketing research company ORG-Marg Research, interviewed some 5000 citizens in a household survey to assess the public’s perception of corruption. It covered 10 sectors with a direct bearing on people’s lives, including education, health, the police, the judiciary, and power utilities.

Too high medicinal cost accompanied by doctor’s consultation fees has made the proper medical treatment to become out of the reach of Indian common man, especially in the rural areas where neither licensed medical stores nor qualified doctors are available and malpractices of the Primary Health Centres, available generally in rural towns only, are well known and are practically forfeiting the veritable purpose of PHC’s there. As a result thereof, not only the market of non-qualitative and banned drugs and medicines is flourishing day by day, but the unqualified doctors also are emerging fast and plundering the poor mass. On account of insufficient availability of generic medicines (patent based medicines which are cheaply produced by another process) the patients are compelled to purchase high priced branded medicines.

An analysis of drug market in India by the ‘World Health Organisation’ (WHO) also reveals that Indian pharmaceutical companies are charging very high prices of medicines from patients. In India, the pharmaceutical companies are earning profits even up to ten times or more of the production cost in case of both branded and unbranded medicines. Not only is this, but the companies, by printing high retail price, are letting the sellers too to earn abnormal profits. Like the ratio between production cost and whole sale price, in many cases the retail price also is ten times or more of the whole sale price. The anti-allergic tablet named as ‘Citrazine’ of ‘Cipla Pharmaceuticals’ is an example. High retail prices of patented and generic medicines are making the general mass to resort to unauthentic and duplicate medicines produced by unlicensed pharmaceutical units. That is why the influence of unauthentic, unlicensed and duplicate medicine producing units in Indian drug market is day by day increasing whereby the people are being badly hit on account of low effectiveness and severe side-effects of the medicines produced by these companies. Many times the doctors too, having been affected by the commission based and gift based sale strategies of the companies producing duplicate medicines, prescribe these medicines without paying heed to the compositions and the bad effects on health on account of the use of these medicines. In some cases the sellers (chemists) let aside the prescription of doctor and sell these medicines especially to the illiterate or docile customers. Not only is this, but the manufacturing companies of these medicines also establish their links even to the government medicine purchasing authorities and seek supply orders. Not only the substandard medicines but even those harmful medicines are being produced and sold in bulks in the Indian market which stand banned at international level.  

Medicines are very precious for human life and have become at present a good part of trade. Therefore, the government should take strong and effective steps to make the qualitative and cheap medicines easily available to the people. The government also should take proper measures against malpractices prevailing in the market of medicines and should instil awareness of medicine consumers against these malpractices. Such organisations should be encouraged which manufacture medicines according to the international standards but at low cost so as to make cheap medicines available in the market. The ‘Low Cost Standard Therapeutics (LOCOST)’ trust at Baroda is a good example of such an organisation. This trust is making cheap production in 90 formulations of about 60 necessary medicines to cater the need of poor and needy patients. Moreover, The launching of the ‘public use medicines easy availability programme’ by the Department of Pharmaceuticals of the central government through 100 public stores of generic drugs, planned to be opened up to December 2009, is worth appreciation.

To solve the problems like that of substandard medicines, harmful and banned medicines and unjustified profit margin a central drugs regulatory system has now become acutely and pressingly needed. The issue of permission as regards to the trading of imported medicines also will be settled by such regulatory system.

The government is encouraging and helping the establishment of small pharmaceutical units. Similar cooperation should be extended to the market extension of their products. The condition of minimum turnover should be relaxed in case of small units. In the present period of prevailing depression the small and medium pharmaceutical industries should be helped through stimulus package to protect them in big market. This type of measures will protect the poor and general medical consumers against their being plundered through high prices by providing them cheap medicines. Moreover, it will help making India a medicine hub.

Studies have shown that health care utilisation has been a long standing concern for most of the developing countries and is sensitive to user perceptions of quality. Patient perceptions of health services thence form an important part of health care quality assessment.  Therefore, ways and means should be found out to give potentiality to important elements of making the health system adequately effective to make health services fully responsive to people’s needs and expectations.

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Sigma Health Care a home health and disease management organization, headquartered in Galveston Texas was established in 1997 by Amer Taha. Taha started Sigma with aa mission, vision and a philosophy all focused on the fact that health and medical care can be provided in the patient home in a more efficient and organized fashion if technology is introduced and utilized properly. As a result; in 2002, Taha started and directed a research and development Department within the organization. The …

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Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – A Note on Health Services and Drug Market in India

As demand for mental health and addictions treatment grows, insurance coverage must be preserved and expanded. It’s critical that we preserve the guarantee of Medicaid coverage for low income, disabled Americans. Commercial parity must be passed; Medicare parity must follow; and if we accept what research is teaching us–that addictions are chronic, relapsing conditions that require ongoing monitoring and management, just like diabetes, asthma, and yes like mental illnesses–then we must act. We must lead the fight to restore eligibility for social security disability for people with addiction disorders.

Data collected by non-profit organizations documents increased demand and increased numbers of uninsured. States reallocated their general fund mental health dollars to the Medicaid match. And now state plans to cover the uninsured are floundering. This leaves large numbers of individuals with treatable mental illnesses in our overburdened emergency rooms and without access to the services that can engage them, treat them, and return them to work.

We’re denying our economy productive taxpayers. We’re wasting human lives. We must introduce and champion a federal funding stream to cover the mental health and addictions treatment costs of the uninsured.

The Community Mental Health Service Improvement Act begins to address our workforce crisis, but it’s just a beginning. 

We cannot stand by and watch our best and brightest become plastic surgeons and investment bankers. Skilled staff demands adequate compensation. We must be attractive to leaders that reflect the diversity of our communities. And we can’t allow people with serious mental illnesses or addictions to wait for weeks and months for an appointment with a psychiatrist. We must be clear and forceful advocates for cost based reimbursement that supports salaries that can attract and retain skilled staff.

If we truly want to narrow the gap between science and service, we must stop investing in manuals and planning grants, and start investing in retooling the organizations that deliver services.

We must preserve, strengthen and expand the mental health and addictions treatment capacity in this country. But it has not been and it will not be easy.

We are part of a healthcare system that reflects the American belief in the marketplace. A healthcare system that talks universal coverage but hates taxes. A healthcare system that resists cost containment, counting on disease management and prevention for savings, although so far they show little evidence of delivering savings. A healthcare system that’s promoting “medical homes” as the newest cost saving strategy, confusing a strategy to improve the quality of care with one that saves money.

But we do know something about saving money. Pioneering studies are telling us that there are enormous disparities in healthcare expenditures from one region of our country to another, with no difference in healthcare outcomes. If the entire nation could bring its costs down to match the lower spending regions, we would cut 20 to 30 percent off America’s healthcare bill. Most of the difference in spending is for hospital care. Hospitalization, including inpatient psychiatric care, is a vital intervention that must be available but in many communities we can do better.

If we’re serious about improving consumer outcomes, point of service is where improvement will occur.

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Thank you! Dr. Stéphane Provencher and Dr. Pat Bronder for caring enough to donate your time and talents to FMS research and treatment! After having doctors attempt to mask my debilitating fibromyalgia symptoms with prescription drugs for 16 years, it has been very refreshing to find a clinic dedicated to finding and treating the underlying causes. In November 2008, I began participating in a 10 session fibromyaglia research project beginning treatment with Dr. Stéphane and concluding the …

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Linda Rosenberg leads the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare in treating mental illnesses and addiction disorders across the country. The Community Mental Health Service Improvement Act is a step in the right direction toward mental health reform, but more can be accomplished. Lean how at http://www.thenationalcouncil.org/.