The long standing demand of the Siddha and Unani medical practitioners of north Kerala will be soon realized with the opening of a Drug Sales Depot (DSD) of the Chennai based Indian Medical Practitioners Co-operative Pharmacy and Stores Ltd (Impcops) in Kozhikode in Kerala, said its secretary Dr Pon Singh.

The Kozhikode depot will be the 26th sales depot of Impcops and the second one in Kerala. First one is located near the Siddha hospital in Thiruvananthapuram.

“The director board of Impcops has decided to open its 26th sales depot in Kerala considering the demand of the Kerala Siddha Graduates Association. The board has authorized the secretary to find out a suitable shop in Kozhikode city in consultation with the president and the local director (director board member from Kerala). The board member from Kerala, Dr. Arun Baby has been assigned to do the preliminary work by finding out a suitable shop-room and we will go for next steps as soon as the room is taken”, said Dr Pon Singh.

Dr Arun Baby, who is the president of All Kerala Siddha Doctors’ Forum (AKSDF), said the association has been demanding a drug sale depot of Impcops in Malabar area for a long time for the benefit of the Siddha and Unani practitioners in north Kerala where a lot of practitioners of both the Ayush systems are practicing. The Unani and Siddha practitioners from Kozhikode, Malappuram, Wynadu, Kannur, Kasargode and Palakkadu are now availing their medical requirements from the Coimbatore depot. Very few medicines are supplied by Oushadhi from Thrissur, he said.

“Once the depot is opened in Kozhikode, the state government owned Oushadhi can reduce their risk in procuring and supplying medicines from the Thiruvananthapuram depot. For all the 28 Siddha dispensaries under the central project (NHM) and Unani institutions the medicines are supplied by Oushadhi”, he added.

Regarding the scope of Siddha medicines in Kerala, Dr Arun Baby pointed out that the recent establishment of a Unani medical college in Kozhikodu would support the sale growth of the depot. Impcops’ ‘kashaayam’ powder has very good impact in Kerala as they do not add preservatives in medicines. Besides there are a lot of Unani doctors in Kozhikode, Wynadu, Malappuram and the nearby places. The members of Impcops will get 25 per cent discount for all medicines bought from the Society. More than one thousand Ayurveda physicians from Kerala are Impcops members.

Further, he said AKSDF has a plan to start one Siddha medical college in Kerala under cooperative sector and deliberations are going on among the Forum members now.