Though India boasts of the rapid growth of the pharmaceutical industry, healthcare in the country is deplorable. For this, healthcare delivery that has to be faulted. Lack of coordination among the different agencies and administrative confusion and chaos are responsible for the poor healthcare.
Rural India is very poorly covered and, in fact, there is no healthcare for the masses. The rural medical practitioners are mostly unregistered, unsupervised, uneducated and untrained. Though there is a proliferation of private hospitals and nursing homes, most of them are poorly managed and largely unregulated. The healthcare sector covers the drugs and pharmaceutical industry, medical devices, hospitals, diagnostic labs, medical shops and pharmacies and personnel hygiene products. But only the drugs and pharmaceutical industry has been regulated. Unless all the components of healthcare are regulated by properly specifying the standards, integrated all the components and have a holistic approach, there will not be any qualitative change in healthcare.
These were some of the thoughts highlighted at the Asian Symposium on Healthcare Industry in Hyderabad on Monday, organised by ASSOCHAM, OPPI, FAPCCI, BDMA, Interpat and IFPMA, with the theme “ Healthcare Industry in India – Growth Perspectives.”
Inaugurating the Symposium, Dr Kodela Sivaprasada Rao, Health Minister of Andhra Pradesh, stressed the need for more investment in the healthcare sector which at present forms only 1 per cent of the world spending. He said the conference should discuss ways and means of producing new drugs not only for the Indian market but also for the world market.
The drugs and pharmaceutical industry was called the Lifeline industry and it was the responsibility of the industry to take care of the health of the people. He said the industry should avoid imitation and production of spurious and substandard drugs, instead concentrate on innovation and quality products.
Ranjit Shahani, president, OPPI, and vice-chairman & managing director of Novartis Ltd, in his keynote address, said though the track record of the pharmaceutical industry was laudable, it should not rest on its laurels. The opening up of the Indian economy and globalisation of markets had thrown open new opportunities. The healthcare challenges within the country were formidable. The burden of disease and the increasing expectations of the government and the people to cure or eliminate these diseases would have considerable impact on the growth prospects of the pharma industry, he said.
The menace of spurious drugs was acquiring alarming proportions and the safety and health of consumers were at stake. This must be tackled by stringent law against counterfeiting in medicines, making the punishment deterrent. He also called for strengthening regulatory enforcement by better accountability and co-ordination between state FDAs and the Drugs Controller-General of India (DCGI) and encouraging manufacturers to use anti-counterfeit measures like the use of holograms, two-coloured capsules, bottles with embossing of logo and tamper evidence caps.
The pharma industry had the capabilities to face the new challenges effectively. A number of strategic drivers were available. These included moving up the value curve, intensifying the customer and market focus, developing globally acceptable strong brands and upgrading continuously quality standards. India could be a global hub for outsourcing manufacturing, research support services as also business processes. But the real driver in the days to come would be innovation. The initial success of some players in the discovery of new molecules was a testimony to the scientific and creative talents and entrepreneurial skills in India. These success stories would spur others to get on to this game. The pharma companies in India were already making headway in filing patents.
He said there was abundant scope for all players in the new market whether it was in the areas of generics, herbal medicine, OTC medicines, or in the biotech area. A good scope exists for developing synergic strengths and core competencies. The international companies had access to newer drug discovery technologies and world markets. They could also bring clinical trials to India. Indian companies had adequate capacities in manufacturing coupled with scientific talent and entrepreneurial skills. The fusion of these strengths would enable the Indian players to be early winners in the global market. “ We should come out of our mentality of imitating to creativity and innovation. We have the capabilities but need to harness them for new business,” Shahani said.
The inaugural session was addressed among others by R K Somany, president, ASSOCHAM, and Omprakash Tibrewala, president, FAPCCI. Venkat Jasti, president, BDMA proposed the vote of thanks.
At the technical session that followed S L Rao, former director-general, NCAER and CERC, talked on the Role of Government and Industry Initiatives, Dr M Venkateswaralu, Deputy Drugs Controller, Western Region, Mumbai, talked on “ The Healthcare Industry -- Drug Control Perspectives and Susan K Finston, associate vice-president, PhRMA, Washington, talked on “ International Experience – How India Can Benefit.”
S L Rao was critical of the health delivery system and regulatory process. He said though there was proliferation of private hospitals and nursing homes, they were poorly managed and largely unregulated. He said there was no healthcare for the masses, it was only for the urban population.
Rao said of the more than 20,000 pharma units in the country, the top 50-60 companies produced almost 75 per cent of the drugs. Others were manufacturing spurious or substandard drugs. They were surviving because there was a market for it. Such units should be regulated, he said.
Dr Venkateswaralu said there was no second quality for drugs. Drugs were taken to cure diseases, to save human lives. All components of the healthcare industry must be regulated, properly specifying the standard and quality requirements. He had touched on the opportunities and challenges for the industry due to globalisation, the initiatives by the government, the industry and the academy for regulation, innovation and upgradation of the existing facilities.