The drug market in the country's vast rural area is perennially beset with scores of irregularities and disadvantages. Prominent among them is the pervasive presence of spurious drugs manufactured by phony local companies. It has long been adding to the aggravation in the country's overall health care sector. Of late, abrupt rise in the price of different essential drugs at stores has dealt a fresh blow to the poor and fixed-income rural medicine buyers. For a number of medicines they are now made to pay almost double the original prices. The sudden price hike has been effected for almost all medicines at the small-city and rural drug outlets. A lot of terminally ill and old people are fully dependent on them. Apart from the outback areas, the spectacle is also encountered in the regional towns and cities.
Perplexed, people desperately in need of essential medicines face a Hobson's choice: Either buying the drugs at exorbitant prices asked by the salespersons or letting themselves and their relatives suffer. The unlettered village folks emerge as the worst victims of random hike in drug prices. Along with paying the highly inflated prices for drugs manufactured by big companies, they are also made to buy adulterated medicines. Appallingly, the prices of these placebos and hazardous medicines are equally on wild spiralling. As has been observed in the trends of other abnormally behaving markets, the drug sales situation has also been blamed on manipulations. The local city and town-based medicine experts have readily pointed the finger at 'syndicates'. These cartels create artificial crisis of some life-saving and over-the-counter common medicines. The market watchers suspect, these seemingly powerful rackets comprise drug traders, medicine stores, as well as a section of physicians. They allegedly prescribe medicines manufactured by obscure local companies.
The rise in the price of medicines, including those for controlling common ailments like diabetes, acidity, blood pressure etc., has already emerged as a nagging worry for the sufferers. Given the stark absence of medicine-market monitoring authorities in many areas, the price-hike is feared to snowball into a real crisis. However, a regional drug administration high-up has expressed his office's helplessness in intervening in the matter. As reported in this newspaper recently, the official spoke of their incapability to take 'action' against the sale of drugs mentioning their MRP (maximum retail price). Elaborating, he said they would conduct drive against people selling medicines without the MRP labels. It's indeed a cogent explanation. But the crux of the matter is the criminal activities long engaged in by the drug 'syndicates'.
Owing to the strong presence of drug administration monitors as well as law enforcement agencies, the cartels find it mostly difficult to pursue their activity in the capital and the large metropolises. However, the scourge of buying spurious, thus hazardous, drugs continues to haunt the gullible segments of medicine users. A fully-functioning countrywide surveillance network has no substitute in checking the drug-related menaces. Their evil power to thwart the lofty goals of the healthcare sector is no exaggeration.
