Special: Bitter pill from Tampcol

Chennai: Thousands of people in India, and even ab­road, are now turning to native medicines, trusting that they wo­uld deliver a perman­ent cure for a variety of ailments, and mo­re importantly, not p­r­­­o­­duce any side eff­ec­ts in the patient.

A recent estimate of the global market for Indian medicines has placed the export po­t­e­­ntial at a staggering Rs 10,000 crore.

The de­mand for these native medicines is peren­n­ial­ly on the rise. Yet, the Ta­mil Nadu Medi­cinal Plant Farms and Herbal Medicine Corporation Limited (Tampcol), a public se­ctor organisation and the maker of na­tive me­dicines, app­ears un­wi­lling to take adva­ntage of the burgeoning market — local and international — though some of its preparations, such as hair oil, have been popular.

An unpublicised vi­sit to the Tampcol factory at Alathur, a so­uthern suburb of Ch­e­nnai, revealed the facility’s unhygienic co­nditions.

An untidy drug-manufacturing unit inside the Tampcol industries at Alathur on Old Mahabalipuram Road in Chennai.    — DC

There we­re rats ru­n­ning arou­nd and the workers we­re not we­aring the ma­ndatory gloves and other protective gear even wh­en packing the tablets and syrups into the dispe­nsing containers.

The state-owned industry, which is in a sub-standard condition, is yet to learn pro­fe­ssionalism. In­d­u­stry experts in the Indian medicine drug manufacturing field say that if the Tam­pcol industrial unit did not adopt hygienic ways of producing drugs, it would result in health issues for pe­ople opting for non-allopathic therapy.

The sales revenue of the company continu­es to be stagnant over a period of time. “Several industries, started only 10 years ago, have been able to surpass the profits ea­rned by Tampcol, and the reason for the rot is best known to them,” said a leading private Indian drug manufacturer.

Medical students at the Aringnar Anna Government Hom­eo­pathy and Indian Me­dicine Hospital (AA­G­HIM) in Arum­bak­kam said that this had been the state of the industry for a long time.

“When a private company can bring in so much change why can’t the government sector? It is pure bureaucratic mism­a­n­­agement,” said a doctor at AAGHIM.

Next: Medicine shortage ails Anna govt hospital

Medicine shortage ails Anna govt hospital

Prashanth Vijayakumar | DC

Chennai: S. Shanthi (65) (name changed) visited the Ar­ingnar Anna Gov­er­n­­ment Homeopathy and Indian Medicine hospital in Arum­ba­kkam to get treated for her knee pain.

Due to a shortage of drugs, the ho­spital could provide dosages only for two da­ys. Many patients like Shanthi are forced to buy medicines for the rest of the course of th­eir treatment from pri­va­te medical shops es­tablished in the vicinity of the hospital.

Taking advantage of the shortage of native drugs at the hospital in­v­entory, several private Indian medicine pharmacies have cropped up within an accessible di­s­tance of the hospital, milking patients for profit.

Several poor patients say they are forced to return to the hospital once the medicines get over due to high cost of drugs at private pharmacies. “If I have to buy a me­dicine in a pr­iva­te sh­op the cost will run into hundreds of ru­pees. Last time, I had to spend Rs 200. I have no choice,” says A. Mani­m­ozhi, a patient’s relative.

Doctors in the hospital say that they are forced to prescribe me­d­icines available with the private shops as many patients do not wish to return to the ho­spital.

“Several medicines won’t be available here in the pharmacy, and even if we prescribe them, the pharmacists do not give them. Since patients are ignorant about the mix of medicines they don’t know about the medicines not given to them,” says a student.

Medical students gr­umble that the hospital administration was lea­st bothered about the hygiene aspects and of medicine shortage. He­rbs and medicinal powders are packed in wa­ste newspapers and delivered to the pa­tie­nts in an unsightly ma­nner.

“In the National Ins­titute of Siddha they give medicines for a week and everything is neatly packed. They sh­ould give medicines for a week, what is the use of giving medicine for two days? The drug will have no effect. The hospital administration is lethargic in this matter,” says a doctor.

When cont­­acted, Com­missioner for Indian Me­­dicine Ap­­o­orva sa­ys, “I have already iss­u­ed orders for five days, we will try to sort this matter by Monday.”

Next: Need right marketing strategy

Need right marketing strategy

Chennai: With Tampcol in the boondocks, marketing experts and tech geeks say that the right marketing strategy and e-commerce could bolster the public sector unit’s revenue fortunes.

Cyber commerce experts suggest that the industrial unit’s current website unit needs to be properly desi­gned.

“The present look is so old fashioned as there ne­eds to be interactivity for portal to be vibrant. If the company designs a pr­oper website there will be no need to establish shops, all they need is a mechanism to make deliveries,” said J. Prasanna, cyber commerce expert.

When contacted the website manager for Tampcol quickly passed the buck on to his senior. “I will do wh­at my senior tells, me I do­n’t have any idea,” he sa­id.

Meanwhile, leading drug manufacturers suggest that proper channels sho­uld be established with other state governments so that the industry could sell its products.

“Firstly, they should ex­pand their infrastructure. Many state governments buy drugs only from PSUs. Despite ours being a leader in the drug market, the Ke­rala government did not accept our proposal; ins­tead, they relied on buying from a public sector unit. This itself shows that PSUs have a clear edge over others,” says a senior administrator of a leading Indian drug manufacturer.