After dilly-dallying on the matter for more than a decade, the Kerala government has finally decided to constitute a separate Corporation on similar lines of neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Delhi for procurement, storage and distribution of medicines in the health centres and hospitals of the state. Besides doing away with the present ad-hoc system, the establishment of the Corporation will go a long way in improving the pathetic condition of storage and distribution of medicines in Kerala.

Complaints and allegations of irregularities in purchasing and storage and distribution of medicines have been flying thick and fast in the state for the last some years. The industry associations have also been crying coarse for streamlining the procurement and distribution of medicines in the state on the pattern of Tamil Nadu where Tamil Nadu Medical Supplies Corporation (TNMSC) has been doing the job professionally since its formation in 1994.

Confirming the Kerala government's decision, State Health Minister Sreemathi Teacher said, "After studying the model of TNMSC, we have accepted as a policy to establish a separate Corporation. It will make the procurement and distribution of medicines more transparent in the state.

So far, the Central Purchase Committee (CPC), formed in 1994 by then state health secretary Gopalakrishna Pillai, has been in charge of purchasing and storage and distribution of the medicines in the state. But, unlike its counterpart in Tamil Nadu and Delhi which were also formed under the Drug Purchasing Policy in 1994, the CPC lacked professionalism as it was only an ad-hoc committee. It did not even have a permanent chairman. On rotation basis, Director General of DME and DHS became the chairman for a one-year term alternatively.

Sources said that though the purchasing of medicines was comparatively better, storage and distribution was in a very bad shape. "Medicines are literally dumped in the stores of hospitals just like the food-grains in the FCI godowns, adversely affecting the quality of medicines", sources said. As about 70 per cent of Indian medicines should be kept in a cool place to keep its quality intact, lack of storage facility is adversely affecting the quality of medicines distributed by the hospitals.

Besides, the unscientific approach in purchasing medicines by CPC resulted in overshooting the budget allocations. Against Rs 65 crore budget allocation last year, the CPC purchased medicines of around Rs 85 crore due to the lack of professionalism. Unlike in Tamil Nadu and Delhi where quality checking is done by the government itself, the CPC is solely depending on the labels of the companies that distribute medicines, sources said.

The establishment of a Corporation by the Kerala government will find a solution to all these problems. To streamline the system, the new Corporation will have a senior IAS official as its chairman while a pharmaceutical science expert will be made the MD. As per the government decision, the Corporation will be in place within two months.