The All India Organization for Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) in collaboration with its joint venture partner Chennai based Medi-Infotec, a health Information Technology (IT) consultant, will be taking steps for computerizing all the Chemists Shops in India. The pilot project of the same would be done in Kerala.

The AIOCD will be mooting this project in Trichur district of Kerala where there are around 1,000 members. Then the project will be carried out in other districts too. The investment for computerizing Trichur district alone would be around Rs 2.5 crore. AIOCD will be holding talks with Medi-Infotec soon to discuss the nuances of the project.

Medi-Infotec will work with existing software players across the country & advice them to generate uniform reports from different softwares. Medi- Infotec is already working with different software players for similar projects and will ensure fair compensation for the software companies.

"If the pharmacist has to purchase the software on his own it would be very costly, but getting it in bulk will reduce the cost, Medi-Infotec will assist AIOCD in achieving this goal by evaluating all the vendors region wise and co-ordinating with all of them in implementing a uniform data exchange " said AN Mohan, president, AIOCD.

The plan to computerize all the chemists' shops and to create a strong networking facility amongst them is aimed at sharing relevant information about the drugs and for maintaining the documents. By creating a network between the chemists, they could discuss the availability of certain drugs; identify the supply of substandard drugs in the market etc. Moreover, discussing with a fellow chemist can clear the doubts regarding the drug usage, its effects and side effects.

A proper record of how much quantity of drugs has been purchased and how much has been disposed can also be maintained. And in case any allegation of malpractice in the retail pharmacies arises the record maintained in the computer can be verified.

"We will be testing the project reliability in Trichur first, then we propose to implement this project in other districts of Kerala. This is to avoid any break down of the network due to heavy load. In the second phase we are planning to introduce the same in other States also. This computerization is vital and most important one considering the role the pharmacist plays in the society today," said Mohan