In a bid to penetrate into the rural pockets and increase its presence all over the state, the Kerala Medical Services Corporation Ltd (KMSCL) has decided to open 35 more outlets of its Karunya Community Pharmacies in medical college hospitals, district hospitals and taluka hospitals across the state by September this year.
KMSCL started its dream project ‘Karunya Community Pharmacy’ by opening the first outlet at the Medical College Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram in February this year. The pharmacy aims to provide 20 to 60 per cent discounts on the cost of all branded prescription drugs and 93 per cent discounts on all speciality drugs for the benefit of the common public. Government medical colleges at Thrissur, Kozhikodu, Kottayam and Alappuzha and all district hospitals will have Karunya retail outlets in about two month’s time, said Biju Prabhakar, managing director of KMSCL.
The obvious advantages of these pharmacy outlets include availability of all essential and speciality drugs at all times, discounted prices, ensured quality and branded items. The MD said more number of speciality drugs used for the treatment of renal diseases (nephrology and urology), cancer, hypertension, infertility treatment etc., would be made available in all these pharmacies from the beginning.
“Our sale in one outlet is bigger than expected. Now one day’s collection touches Rs.4 lakh at the medical college counter. Whereas, in the second unit at the Kallara village, the collection is much less. It is because of less awareness among the people about the pharmacy. The government sales counters at SAT hospital and in the medical college make more than Rs.3 lakhs each every day. Altogether the revenue comes around Rs.10 lakh. The revenue from government run medical shops will increase to one crore when Karunya outlets are opened in all the districts. Government has allotted now Rs.23 crores for setting up facilities for opening new outlets,” he said.
As part of expansion of the scheme, the Corporation is organizing a Suppliers’ Meet in Thiruvananthapuram on July 6, in which nearly 200 medical suppliers are expected from all over India. Big players like Dr Reddy's Lab, Ranbaxy, Cipla, Lupin, Sun Pharma, Aurobindo Pharma, GlaxoSmithKline Pharma (GSK), Cadila Healthcare, Aventis Pharma etc have confirmed their participation in the meeting.
“There is overwhelming response from the suppliers. We maintain transparency in tender, and in payment, and we are industry friendly. We aim to procure Rs.50 crores in one year from the incentives offered by the companies. All the drugs sold through the counters of Karunya are branded generics and purchased directly from the companies,” Biju Prabhakar said.