The drug manufacturers, traders and other stakeholders with the pharmaceutical industry in the country are in the forefront to help the suffering communities in the coastal belts of South India, in the largest ever relief operation in the history of the country.
Aids in the form of medicines and necessary relief materials are pouring in from different parts of India to Chennai for distribution in different parts of the affected areas. T S Jaishankar, chairman, Confederation of Indian Pharmaceutical Industries (CIPI-ssi) said all the state level associations had agreed to contribute medicines and hospital items, currently estimated to the tune of over Rs 1 crore.
The consignments, mainly IV fluids, hospital items like syringes and gloves, analgesics, anti-inflammatory and psychotropic drugs and a few necessary antibiotics are likely to reach Chennai, within one or two days. Four boxes of medicines are ready to be handed over to the authorities. Already the manufacturers in Tamil Nadu have mobilized and handed over a few boxes of medicines, as per the request of the state health department. One company is also supplying a full load of IV fluids.
IDMA sources said the association president has written to all its members to contribute medicines, and consignments have started coming. A courier agency has agreed to deliver the medicines freely. SV Veeraamani, vice president, IDMA, and the PMA office in Chennai are doing the co-ordination work.
"We have decided to hand over all the consignments to the designated authorities in Chennai, as they are in a better position to distribute the medicines according to the demand and necessity all across the relief camps in coastal belts upto Kanyakumari. The initial consignments were for the relief camps in and around the Chennai coastline," said B Sethuraman, PMA president.
The Tamil Nadu Chemists and Druggists Association office bearers said they distributed Rs One lakh-worth medicines, syringes, and tablets on Monday, for distribution in the affected areas of Cuddalore. Now the association is mobilizing medicines for the relief camps in the Nagapattinam and Kanyakumari districts. Apart from medicines, various district associations have been asked to mobilize 1000 each clothes and bed sheets for the victims. It would be collected at Erode, for transportation to Kanyakumari and Nagapattinam districts within a day or two. Apart from this, the chemists in the state are also mobilizing donations for the calamity relief fund. AIOCD, the national body of traders, is also in the process of mobilizing funds and medicines to help the victims.
Sources with the Tamil Nadu Medical Sales Representatives Association (TNMSRA) said its members were actively taking part in the relief works, in association with the Tamil Ndu Science Forum, an NGO. They have distributed over Rs 2 lakh medicines and are in the process of conducting medical camps in the affected areas. The Federation of Medical Representatives Association of India (FMRAI), the national body, is also collecting medicines and other requisites for the affected unfortunates, informed the source.
The industry and trade in Kerala is also participating actively in the relief works. The Kerala Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association handed over medicines worth Rs 65,000 yesterday to the authorities, as per the requirements from the DMOs of Kollam and Aalappuzha districts. "We are in touch with the state health authorities to offer whatever help they ask," said Dr. A M D Namboodiri, president, Kerala PMA.
The All Kerala Chemists and Druggists Association had donated over Rs 2 lakh worth medicines to the victims in Aalappuzha and Kollam, according to sources.
Meanwhile, the top-level drug officials in Kerala said efforts are on to estimate the required medicines and distribute it properly to the affected areas. "It is not the problem of lack of medicines, but proper distribution according to the needs," said the source.
More than one million people are living in the relief camps in the entire coastline of Tamil Nadu, besides over two lakhs in Kerala.