Selfcare is not new to India, it is imbedded in our history, culture and in day-to-day life like the use of home remedies for common illnesses. Researches show that in US 81 per cent of adults use OTC medicines as a first response to minor ailments. In India, Over-The-Counter (OTC) medicine dispensing and self-medication is a widespread practice, and a study suggests 76 per cent consumers suffering from minor aliments self-medicate.
The trend is similar for rural population as well i.e. 71 per cent self-medicate. Relevant and practical regulations should be brought in to help and deliver value to the consumer and society.
These were some of the key takeaways at the 69th Indian Pharmaceutical Congress (IPC) at Chandigarh on December 23, 2017 which brought together around 7,000 delegates from industry, regulator, academia, hospital and community pharmacy to deliberate on relevance of selfcare for India.
Chaired by R. Chandrasekhar, Deputy Drug Controller of India, CDSCO, (representing Drug Controller General of India Dr GN Singh) and moderated by Arun Mishra, Executive Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, GSK Consumer Healthcare, India, the deliberations were meant to orient healthcare professionals towards envisaging the fact that how pharmacists can play a leading role in the healthcare delivery for our country.
Deliberations were made like facilitating selfcare empowers the society. Selfcare is important since it can address healthcare needs of India in the context of increasing population, inadequate infrastructure, high out of pocket expenses and rural urban disparity. It can relieve the massive delivery burden on our healthcare networks including potentially freeing up 10 per cent physician’s time.
There are established direct benefit to the countries that formally promote selfcare, for example, OTC medicines provide $120 billion in value to the US healthcare system annually.
There is a growing role of digital media in selfcare – access to knowledge and information on medicine and diseases. Studies suggest, there are more than 100,000 iOS health apps; 1 in 20 google searches are health related, 61 per cent always try to find information themselves rather than just relying on doctors; and 77 per cent want to take more control over decisions about their health.
An appropriate OTC regulatory framework is must for the country to support and regularize such information seeking behavior. There is also an opportunity to review Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 to enable awareness and knowledge distribution to empower the society.
Selfcare and OTC will require innovation – innovation in delivery, communication or convenience. There is an opportunity to learn from other industries like FMCG when it comes to supply chain and adopt/ synergies best practices to make the medicine reach last mile.
India should bring a relevant OTC regulatory framework to support selfcare. Global best practices could be adopted to ensure alignment and partnership keeping in view the uniqueness of India w.r.t. socioeconomic, cultural and educational background and infrastructure. There are 4 elements of OTCs drugs should be kept in the framework - Accessibility, Accountability, Availability and Affordability.
Hence, based upon well-established, data-based risk benefit analysis, a rational list of ailments which can be treated/managed with their respective medicine formulations as self-care, should be established for far-reaching healthcare benefits for the Indian population.
Conclusively, with a clear understanding of the gaps and challenges existing in the current healthcare system and regulatory scenario prevailing in the country in the backdrop of unique socio-economic, cultural and educational background of Indian population, “Responsible” Self-Medication should be encouraged to enable people to live a healthier and better life.
Eminent speakers and panelists included Dr. H. G. Koshia, Commissioner Food and Drug Control Administration (FDCA), Gujarat; Dr. Naresh Sharma, Assistant Drug Controller North Zone (Ghaziabad); Prof. Madhumita Dobe, All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, Kolkata, West Bengal (deputed to Dr. Shashidhar Rao, Medical Director, GSK Consumer Healthcare); Anantha Nayak, CEO – Cipla Health Ltd; Dr. Noppadon Adjimatera, Regulatory and Medical Affairs, Director, ASEAN & South Asia, RB, Thailand.; Dr. Ravi Shankar (IPS and Drug controller Andhra Pradesh); Dr. Rahul Chauhan, Head – Regulatory and Medical Affairs, RB, South Asia, India; Dr. Prasanna Bangale, Director – Regulatory Affairs, India & APAC, Johnson and Johnson, India; Dr. Prem Gupta, Former DCGI, Dr. R. K. Khar, professor and principal, B. S. Anangpuria Institute of Pharmacy), Faridabad, Haryana spoke and actively contributed to this session.