Agitated over not being invited to the pharmaceutical manufacturers meeting called by the chief minister of Kerala and the state health department last week, the Kerala Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (KPMA) has decided to strongly object to the discriminative attitude of the government.
Taking it as an insult, the association office-bearers complained that the government had invited 71 manufacturing companies from different states of the country, but no company from Kerala was called. They said that it is because of this non supportive stand of the state government the number of pharma companies came down from 78 to 40 during the last 20 years.
In its executive committee meeting held at Thrissur on last Saturday, the KPMA took the decision to apprise the government that the pharma companies in Kerala are able to manufacture and supply their category of medicines for the whole requirement of the state provided they should be given enough support.
In the meeting, the leaders of the KPMA, comprising of 40 manufacturing companies, alleged that the Kerala government is doing nothing for the growth of pharma industry and it has got a poor image inside and outside the state.
“The government has invited companies from outside the state, but neglected the firms of own state. They have not invited even a single member of our association, then how can the government claim that they are industry-friendly or supporting SSIs in Kerala. This neglect has to be changed. They are giving the licence to operate, but they are not supporting the industry,” said AMD Nambudiri, president of KPMA.
Expressing anger, the association secretary K P Purushothaman said “Our capacity is very big, but it cannot be fully utilized. We have invested huge amount for GMP and other facilities, but only 40 per cent of the total capacity is able to be utilized. The government can support in so many ways including supply of raw materials through loan licence scheme. If so, the Kerala based manufacturing units will be able to supply all drugs including the essential ones on discounted rates. We are ready to supply drugs at lower rates than provided by big players of other states,” he said.
The KPMA office bearers will shortly meet the Chief Minister and the health minister to apprise them of the poor conditions of the industry in Kerala and express their willingness to improve the situation to manufacture all the drugs required for the state’s people. They will request the government to initiate measures for establishing an image for the Kerala pharma industry outside the state and boost exports.
According to KPMA, the total sales turnover of all the companies in the state comes to just Rs.100 crore per year.