Hyderabad : The health activists and people in general have been alleging that the pharma companies are looting the common man and patients in particular by printing very high maximum retail price (MRP) on the medicine strips, because of which the poor patients who are in dire need of medicines are forced to pay excess price to by medicines.
According to Akula Sanjay Reddy, a pharmacy activist and member of Telangana State Pharmacy Council, it is unfortunate that the state and central governments are standing as mute spectators even while the pharma companies are printing very high MRPs on the medicines and selling them to public through their distribution networks and through retail pharmacies.
Citing an example how the pharmacy companies are looting the general public and the patients in particular, the pharmacy activist said that for a patient who is suffering from acidity, the doctors will prescribe him with pantaprazole 40 mg tablets.
When the patient visits the pharmacy outlet to buy the same, a strip of 10 tablets is given with an MRP of Rs. 118 on the strip, that means each tablet costing Rs 11.80 paisa. However, the actual cost of the same 10 tablets is only just Rs.13.15 paisa. At the maximum, the retailer may reduce the cost of may be Rs.10-18 and will sell the strip at Rs. 100. This means clearly the pharma companies are charging the consumers more than Rs. 86.85 paisa on a strip of 10 tablets of pantaprozole.
“This is only a small drop in the big ocean, where the pharma companies which are producing thousands of such medicines are printing excess MRP rates and looting the public like anything. Though the retailers and the distributors may not earn big from the MRP, but the pharma companies are sure to reap big profits by printing high MRP prices on the medicine strips,” observed Reddy.
While it is the responsibility of the state and central governments to put a tab on the excess printing of MRP prices on the medicinal strips, however, it is unfortunate that these governments and their administrative machineries and vigilance officials who are supposed to supervise these issues are deliberately ignoring and letting the pharma companies loot the poor diseased population in the country.
According to health experts, though it is common that any pharma company or dealers and retailers will sell their produce at around 20 per cent profit margins, however, by allowing the printing of MRP prices indiscriminately by the pharma companies without any supervision by a government body, the state and central governments are letting the public get looted by these companies, observed Amruth Rao, a social health activist from Hyderabad.
