The small scale pharma industry in the country has sought Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's intervention on the barcoding issue by calling an inter-ministerial meeting involving the Union ministries of health, commerce, finance and department of pharmaceuticals for stalling the introduction of barcoding not only for exports but also for the local market.
The immediate reason for the SSIs to seek PM's intervention on the issue is the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI)'s recent statement in Chandigarh that barcodes are being mandated not only for export but for local market also which the SSI thinks a futile exercise.
In a written submission to the Prime Minister, the SME Pharma Industries Confederation (SPIC) said that the entire exercise is futile as the only barcoding company appointed by government-- M/s GS-1--- agrees that barcodes cannot prevent fake/spurious drugs. Barcodes can be replicated much easier than credit cards, which strengthens the acceptance of fakes/spurious drugs.
Apprising the Prime Minister about the fact that the presence of fake drugs in the country is negligible, the SPIC said that in a special survey carried out by CDSCO recently, only 11 fakes were found out of 24,000 samples. And the government has repeatedly told Parliament (refer LS Question 1039) that less than 0.046 per cent drugs are spurious. Besides, with Drugs Act Amendment Bill 2008, government has already increased imprisonment for spurious drugs to 10 years and the offence has been made cognizable.
Besides, barcoding cost is too high as each strip of tablets has to bear a separate code and account has to be maintained. Cost of Registration alone to each Pharma SME shall be around Rs.20,000 per month apart from monthly cost of Rs.1,00,000 for barcoding for an average SME. This increases price to consumer and renders SMEs unviable further, it said.
SPIC also expressed surprise over the fact that only one company has been appointed as the barcode provider. With millions of brands and separate barcode for each strip, it translates into hundreds of crores in profits each year. This despite the fact that there are free barcodes available on the Internet.
Alleging that vested interests are at work to eradicate SSIs in pharma sector, SPIC said that six MNCs have already cornered over 25 per cent market in India in view of profiteering opportunities. Only SMEs stand in their path of profiteering. Hence, policies are either being influenced by them or by large industry which seeks to notch up mega deals with MNCs if laws are changed to their advantage.
“But it is a known fact that closure of SMEs will only result in price rise and unemployment. Vested interests prevail owing to lack of inter ministerial coordination. Hence, we request Prime Ministerial intervention to get our Charter of Demands attended in DOP by calling an inter-ministerial meeting and to stall Barcoding not only for Exports but also for the local market in National Interest”, SPIC in its letter to the PM said.